Date Fruits: Lucrative export sector being neglected

ISLAMABAD: The country’s date exports can be enhanced to $200 million if proper processing and packaging facilities are provided to date farms, according to the CEO of Harvest Tradings Ahmad Jawad. According to Jawad, estimated annual date production in Pakistan is around 535,000 tons, out of which only 86,000 tons is exported and the rest is either consumed domestically or perishes due to a lack of storage and preservation facilities. He said that due to a lack of interest in value addition, other countries benefit from the dates our exporters dump in international markets by processing and repackaging them to sell at prices four or 6 times higher than what Pakistani exporters get. He urged the government to give some attention to the stagnant productivity of the date manufacturing sector and its declining export trend.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 9^th, 2012.