KARACHI: Pakistan is likely to fail in meeting its mango export target of 150,000 tons, and will achieve exports of only 100,000 tons, said Waheed Ahmed, co-chairman Pakistan Fruits and Vegetables Exporters, Importers and Merchants Association (PFVA) in a statement on Saturday.
“Logistics issues were the main reason, as shipping companies and airlines provided huge losses to the exporters,” he said. Several times, shipping companies left the Pakistani mango consignments at the ports, while one time a big consignment was delivered to Muscat instead of Dubai, he alleged.
“Due to unfriendly behaviour of airlines, exports via air declined by 30 percent,” he further claimed.
International barriers on trade with Iran also affected the exports of 30,000 tons, while due to several barriers, export on commercial basis remained unsuccessful to South Korea, Japan and the United States.
Exports of the fruit started on May 25, 2012 and only 73,000 tons worth $27 million were exported till date, Ahmed said, adding that the target of achieving 66 percent exports by this time has not been achieved; only 50 percent export has been successful.
Ahmed further said that mango exports would continue till the early days of September 2012, and there are no chances that exports will exceed 25,000 tons. Thus mango exports would remain around 100,000 tons only, he concluded.