Chinese help sought for fruit export
The setting up of new hot water treatment plants will break monopoly of existing players and the cost of fruit treatment will go down. PHOTO: FILE
The Pakistan-China Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCJCCI) has planned to invite multiple Chinese trade delegations with particular focus on export of fresh, processed and dry fruits from Pakistan.
Speaking at a session, PCJCCI President SM Naveed said, “Pakistan and China can collaborate for setting up fruit quality enhancement centres, processing units, dehydration plants and cold storage chains in order to process Pakistani fruits in line with international standards for export.”
Naveed stressed that Pakistan’s fruit sector had enormous export potential that could be beneficial for both countries. In that regard, he suggested the constitution of a preliminary research team in order to put ideas into action.
“We will soon invite Chinese delegations to Pakistan with focus on promoting export of fresh, processed and dry fruits from Pakistan, which will be re-exported to the rest of the world after value addition through the Chinese processing and packaging technology,” he revealed.
PCJCCI Senior Vice President Daud Ahmed stated that Pakistan produced a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, with annual production estimated at 9 million tons.
“This includes 990,000 tons of citrus fruit, 439,000 tons of mangoes, 526,000 tons of apples, 127,000 tons of guavas, 1.914 million tons of apricots and other fruits - bananas, grapes, pomegranates, pears and dates.”
He pointed out that unfortunately due to the lack of advanced processing and packaging techniques, nearly 50% of the total fruit production was being lost during harvesting, transportation, preservation and storage.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 5th, 2020.
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