Not enough buyers for king of fruit in Islamabad

Lack of export creates excess of mangoes in fruit markets, traders fear there aren’t enough customers amid pandemic

ISLAMABAD: Cultivated widely across Sindh and Punjab, mangoes are the second-most exported fruits grown in the country. However, like many sectors around the world, Pakistan’s traditional mango exports have also taken a sizeable hit from the economic crisis created by the global coronavirus pandemic.

In addition to that, despite the availability of excessive mangoes due to non-export, the virus scare has also created a dearth of customers in the local markets, leaving mango traders of Islamabad in a tight spot. “Mango season usually coincides with the month of Ramazan, which is when we make most of our sales.

But the season hit a little later this year, and now that we have an abundance of mangoes available in the markets, there aren’t enough customers to buy them,” shared Waheed, a mango trader from Sabzi Mandi, Islamabad.

“Good quality mangoes can retail for anywhere between Rs 50 to Rs 120 per kilogram, but they are delicate fruits and cannot be stored for too long in this weather. So in the absence of customers, we have no option but to further lower our prices in hopes of making sales,” he added.

According to Islamabad Fruit and Vegetable Association Chairperson Agha Sairaj, the fruit markets of the capital make business worth millions of rupees every day, but the district administration has paid little heed to them and has remained busy decorating the Blue Area.

“The fruit markets have only been disinfected once since the coronavirus outbreak, and that too was quite a while ago. Situations have gotten much worse since then and customers do not find it safe enough to come to the markets anymore. Due to this reason, we have not been making a lot of sales and the mangoes which have come from Sindh and Punjab are at the risk of being spoiled if they’re not sold in time,” Sairaj lamented.

While a majority of industries and businesses have gone online to adapt to the economy-wrecking pandemic, Junaid Sheikh, a fruit trader in Islamabad informed The Express Tribune that a most of the vendors in the city’s fruit markets have no experience doing business online.

“We neither have the expertise nor the resources to run our business on the internet. It costs up to Rs200 to Rs300 to deliver 10 kilograms of mango through courier or home delivery services, but even if we spare that amount we do not have a packaging system to secure the delivery. So if the fruit goes bad in transportation, the people won’t pay us at all and we can’t take that risk,” explained Shaikh.

On the other hand, Faisal Majeed, who had been a regular customer at the Sabzi Mandi told The Express Tribune that he now prefers to get canned fruits instead of shopping from the open fruit markets.

“Experts say that spraying chlorine does not make fruits and vegetables healthy to eat and markets themselves are high risk spaces. Excessive use of disinfectant sprays can also cause rashes on the skin and create discomfort, so in these circumstances prevention and care is the only cure,” Majeed maintained.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 10^th, 2020.