November 12, 2002	Tuesday	Ramazan 6, 1423

KARACHI, Nov 11: Foreign buyers have started sending a note of caution to Pakistani kinoo exporters for not accepting the commodity in cartons due to price factor.

Members of Pakistan Apples and Citrus Export Board (PACEB) have started receiving fax from their foreign buyers, saying that they cannot accept this kind of packaging and still prefer to buy kinoo in wooden crates.

General secretary, PACEB, Zaheer Ahmed, has provided some copies of faxes to Dawn which his members had received ahead of Kinoo shipments.

One of the faxes received from an Indonesian buyer says: “I cannot accept this type of packaging as price will not be competitive as before and our market is looking forward for the better price. Be aware of pricing matter and if you intend to send in carton box — it won’t compete with China.”

Chinese kinoo is being sold at quite low price in the Far East market these days.

Another fax from a Sri Lankan buyer says: “Our buying quantity will drop by one third from what we usually buy in case you insist us to buy in carton.” The buyer says that he has been buying 100 containers of kinoo and overall the country used to buy around 500-600 containers for the season.

The new rules of Export Promotion Bureau to allow only use of cartons for Kinoo exports instead of wooden crate have come under fire as exporters forecast a gloomy picture in foreign exchange earnings in this season.

The EPB has announced new rules for kinoo export ahead of export season under which exporters would only be allowed to send shipments abroad in cartons from November 15, in net eight kilograms, 10kg and 13kg. The net weight must be printed on cartons.

These rules were enacted in last year’s export season but was later withdrawn as exporters sought more time to get the cartons printed.

Mr Zaheer said PACEB had informed the EPB that China was Pakistan’s main competitor in Kinoo in Far Eastern markets and local exporters were grabbing big share due to the lower prices as the cost of wooden crates was $0.75 cents less than cartons.

“Our 25 per cent foreign exchange will go waste in importing cartons from abroad as standard carton is not manufactured in Pakistan,” the Board said.

No foreign buyer is reluctant to import kinoo in wooden crates. They like wooden crates because of easy handling. If other fruits are allowed in wooden crates then why not kinoo, it argues.

The PACEB general secretary said that millions of people were engaged in wooden crate industry in Pakistan and in case the export of kinoo through this mode of shipment was stopped then millions of people would lose their jobs, resulting in collapse of the industry.

He said Pakistan’s major buyers of kinoo were Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, Middle East and some Far Eastern and European countries. He said buyers had become price conscious because of economic conditions.

He said the officials of EPB were wasting their energies in futile exercises, rather than making efforts in finding new markets. “Pakistani kinoo is banned in countries like Philippines, Thailand, Japan, US, Australia, South Africa and Korea because of quarantine restrictions. The EPB should expedite its efforts in removing such ban,” he added.

Mr Zaheer said the share of Pakistani kinoo was gradually declining in the European countries as Spain was providing seedless kinoo to various countries. Efforts should now be made to grow seedless kinoo in Pakistan to capture some market share in Europe.

Despite all odds, the export of Kinoo through wooden crates has been rising every year. In fiscal 2001-02 exports of kinoo were $21 million.

He said the idea of introducing cartons instead of wooden crates had been put forward by exporters of another association to help check specified weight.

General secretary, Fresh Fruits Vegetables Exporters and Processors Association, Khalid Aijaz, said the decision to introduce cartons was aimed at improving standard and quality of fruits as the many countries were gradually tightening their quarantine regulations.

He was of the view that exports would increase in this fiscal as rupee was continuously gaining strength against the dollar. He said crop was normal and the size of fruit was also good in this season.