July 14, 2007	Saturday	Jamadi-us-Sani 28, 1428

KARACHI, July 13: Mango —the king of fruits — is now in an over-supply position in the markets because of bumper crop of 1.7 million tons. But retailers are fully cashing the situation by charging higher prices on the plea that wholesale prices have surged in Sabzi Mandi.

Mango is now being sold at every nook and corner of the city, thus casting doubts that either exports are down or there are some other problems. But in reality everything is fine on the export front because a very negligible part of production is shipped every year.

Retailers and even the push cart sellers are demanding higher prices under the pretext of quality.

They have already increased the rates by Rs5 to Rs10 per kg after rains as mango lovers believe that the king of fruits gives a new taste in the rainy season. Besides, prices automatically go up at the end of fruits’ season.

The push cart sellers, who are mostly seen in abundance in many markets loaded with huge quantities, have formed a cartel in a way that they believe in making windfalls only rather than competing with each other to provide benefits to the buyers.

Consumers in search of better bargains appear bound to buy the fruit because of the cartel-like tactics of these sellers demanding higher prices.

Suppose if a good quality mango – chaunsa - is priced between Rs30-35 in an area inhabited by the middle class, it will be definitely available at Rs25 in a low income group area and over Rs50 per kg in a posh area.

While Pakistanis munch mango with great zeal, some portion of the large crop also finds its way into the neighboring countries like Afghanistan and Iran through illegal channels. Sources said that some 15,000 to 20,000 tons were being smuggled to the neighboring countries every season.

Out of total production some 25-30 per cent is wasted every year because of poor infrastructure and absence of modern techniques of preservation. The life span of Chaunsa, after picking, ranges from 16-20 days while Sindhri can remain in good health for at least 20 days.

Chief Executive Officer Pakistan Horticulture Development and Export Board (PHDEB) Shamoon Sadiq told Dawn from Lahore that the country was likely to fetch $40 million this season from mango exports by meeting a shipment target of 125,000 tons. So far 55,000 tons had been shipped during May to June. Mango export season starts from May and ends in September.

Last year, mango production stood at 1.5 million tons and 105,000 tons had been exported fetching $32 million.

“We are more interested this year in getting value rather than increasing quantity,” he said hoping to get better value in Germany, Norway and some other European countries. The Middle East is actually a low priced market, he added.

This year Pakistan has lost the Russian market because of a ban in April owing to rice issue. But it will not make any big impact on the country’s foreign exchange earnings, he added.

To a query whether the consumers will benefit in price from the bumper production, he said that it had been noticed that the prices of mango had been same as of last year. It ranges between Rs35 to Rs60 per kg depending on the area.

Imtiaz Hussain, a leading exporter, said that the price of 8-9 kg wooden crate of Chaunsa surged to Rs300 from Rs250 in Sabzi Mandi because of higher transportation cost after rains in Punjab and Sindh.

Sindhri is now heading towards its end and its prices have surged to Rs350-400 a crate depending on the quality as compared to Rs200-250 a month back.

He said so far exports of mangoes had been moving at a stable pace without any problem and the country was expected to cross the target of 125,000 tons this season. 8,000 tons legal exports have been made to Iran to Iran despite a potential of 35,000 tons.

He said a large quantity was being smuggled to Iran, which eats up the share of legal shipments. Some shipments are also being made to China.

To a query why consumers are not benefiting from the bumper crop, he said that higher transportation charges had actually pushed up the rates after the rains. But it has been noticed that prices once increased never come down.

He said like previous years large quantities of mango were stocked by the juice makers for the next one year consumption whenever a new variety is available at cheaper price. For the next one year they will make huge profits.