LAHORE, Feb 7: Pakistan’s kinno export crossed 80,000 tons mark by the end of January, mainly due to the revival of supplies to the Russian market. Exporters hope that the exports will gain momentum in February.

Exporters and officials of Pakistan Horticulture Development and Export Board (PHDEB) said that the exports had been slow in January for logistical reasons. Exports to Iran suffered due to political reasons as major shipping lines refused shipments due to US sanctions.

“The country should be able to cross its export target of 200,000 tons easily with abundant crop this year,” says Muhammad Iqbal of PHDEB.

Before the start of the season export to Russia was uncertain as no shipping line had spared cargo space for shipment. Now these lines are readjusting their shipments and have promised to spare more containers, exporters added. This would accelerate shipments to Russia in the days to come.

The shipping lines had also planned their cargo space taking into account last year exports quantity, when the country suffered from a short crop and exported only half of this year’s target.

The weather, specially the recent chill, improved both the taste and colour of the fruit.

The bumper crop this year kept the price to a manageable level and the improved colour and the taste increased its demand in foreign markets, he said.

In addition to increased exports to Russia and Iran, the country has also sent its first kinno container to China. The Chinese market alone could absorb over 100,000 tons if the quality issues do not hit the export in next five years, the PHDEB official said.

“Export has also increased because our close competitor - China - had a bad crop this year,” says Daniel Benjimen, a local exporter. The Chinese citrus crop suffered up to 20 per cent damage facilitating demand of Pakistani kinno in markets abroad.

With all these factors helping kinno exports from Pakistan, the country should be able to cross 200,000 tons mark in the next two months, he hoped.