Traders laments low kinnow export in current season

Cite soaring freight cost, export bottlenecks as major reasons

LAHORE:

The kinnow exports witnessed a drop of over 40% during the ongoing season and less than 200,000 tonnes of the fruit was shipped abroad against 460,000 tonnes last year, said Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) former chairman Ahmad Jawad.

Speaking to the media on Monday, he said that steep increase in freight charges, unavailability of containers, lack of banking channels in some destination countries, export bottlenecks and reduction in output due to climate changes were major reasons behind the decline.

“Pakistan exports kinnow to 40 countries and its major markets include Middle East, Indonesia, Malaysia, Russia, Afghanistan and the Philippines,” he said.

Underlining that the country intended to expand its kinnow exports to Iran and China he added that lack of formal banking channels and export form issues were acting as hindrances in way of exploiting the Iranian market.

Additionally, Pakistan was unable to send even a single container to China on the back of unavailability of containers and soaring freight charges, he lamented.

He criticised the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) over its failure to open formal banking channels for Iranian and Russian markets and cited this as major reason due to which Pakistan was unable to tap their potential.

Jawad highlighted that the Iran could absorb between 60,000-80,000 tonnes of kinnow.

He added that the export volume of local kinnow to the Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian markets (the largest citrus importers in the world) could be doubled from the present 50,000 tonnes if the government established proper banking links with them.

He urged SBP officials to resolve the issue at the earliest so that the potential of the market could be fully exploited.

“The total exports value of Pakistani kinnow could spike to $1 billion within a few years if the government facilitates the exporters,” said Jawad. “Similarly, Pakistan exported just 80 tonnes of kinnow to China through the sea route.”

He noted that exporters wanted to quadruple the volume this season via land transportation.

Jawad added that Pakistani fruits were larger in size compared to Turkish and Moroccan produce.

“The exotic taste of Sargodha varieties largely helps attract Chinese consumers to Pakistani kinnow,” he added. “Pakistan’s export window during December-April months complements that of China’s September-January season.”

 

Published in The Express Tribune, April 5^th, 2022.

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