KARACHI: The price hike has forced Pakistani potato exporters to move to Bangladesh to meet their trade commitments. If the country will not benefit from trade, it is for the economic managers to put the house in order if it cares for foreign exchange it is set to lose.

The higher prices of potato primarily pushed exporters to operate from Bangladesh to feed the markets in Far East, Middle East and Central Asian states among others.

Waheed Ahmed, Co-chairman of All Pakistan Fruits Exporters, Importers and Merchants Association, confirmed to Dawn on Friday that exporters purchased potato in Bangladesh and shipped it to various destinations.

Even some exporters also did the same practice in other neighbouring countries, he said, adding “it is not clear whether such exporters fetch any foreign exchange or not.”

He, however, said that potato exports from Pakistan which started in January 2014 earned around $9.9 million so far with a shipment of 33,000 tonnes only to the Middle East, Far East etc. However, export target was 350,000 tonnes for 2014 which is all set to be missed miserably.

In 2013, potato exports fetched $60 million with shipment of around 200,000 tonnes.

“We will miss the export target this year due to high prices in the country,” he added.

He also blamed the vested interest who lifted a sizeable quantity of unripe potato in December 2013 and sold it in the market. “The government should fix a date for potato harvesting to avert price increase in the market,” he added. He did not agree with the claim of Finance Minister Ishaq Dar that the country had surplus stocks of 1.1 million tonnes potato.

“The minister should tell the media as to where this surplus stocks is kept,” he said, adding potato production this year is already 20pc less while around 500,000 tonnes of potato found way to Central Asian States and Afghanistan through informal channel by road which was also one of the reasons of hike in potato prices.

He said Pakistan has missed a chance to get higher orders as there was a worldwide shortage of potato crop in countries, like Iran, Afghanistan, Russian, Iraq etc.

“I think that the government has to lower down taxes and duties to bring down potato prices otherwise, its price will touch Rs100 per kg during Ramazan when demand soars,” Waheed said. However, growers would definitely oppose move to allow relaxation in duties and taxes on potato imports, he added.

According to figures of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, Pakistan’s overall export of vegetables fell by 12.57 per cent in terms of quantity to 469,377 tonnes ($167m) in July-March 2013-2014 as compared to 536,846 tonnes ($171m) in the same period of last fiscal year.

Finance Minister’s dream to see the retail price of potato at Rs30 per kg failed to materialise as his deadline for market forces to bring down prices expired on Thursday.

Retailers continued to charge Rs50-60 per kg in the markets, blaming higher wholesale prices.

Senior Vice President of Falahi Anjuman Wholesale Vegetable Market Haji Alimuddin said that wholesale prices dropped to Rs35 on Friday from Rs40 per kg on Thursday, while it was Rs45-50 per kg a week back.

He linked the drop in wholesale price to improved arrival from Punjab cold storages as the government had started forcing owners of these storages to release the stocks in the markets.