Karachi: All Pakistan Fruits and Vegetable Exporters, Importers and Merchants Association (PFVA) has set the kinno export target at 325,000 tonnes for this season by reducing 50,000 tonnes compared to last year.

Exports would kick off from December 1. Kinno production during this year is expected to be around two million tonnes. Due to limited availability of good quality of exportable kinno, the export target has been reduced this year, Patron-in-Chief PFVA and Vice President FPCCI, Waheed Ahmed, said. Last year, a record export volume of 375,000 tonnes fetched $200m. The current export volume of 325,000 tonnes would earn $180m, he hoped.

Pakistan is confronted with tough competition due to high cost of production of citrus fruits and stiff competition with big kinno exporters like Turkey, Morocco in the world market, Waheed said.

He added that rupee devaluation has lost its favourable impact due to upward revision of freight charges by the shipping companies, rise in cost of packing material and substantial increase in local transportation charges. With an increase of Rs100, the cost per maund of kinno has reached Rs800 this year. Russia, Indonesia, Gulf and Middle Eastern countries are big importers of Pakistani kinno. Pakistan has been facing ban on import/export of kinno by the Iranian government for the last seven years.

Iran is an international market having a capacity of 80,000-100,000 tonnes of Pakistani kinno. Similarly, in Russia, Pakistan is faced with stiff competition from Morocco and Turkey.

Published in Dawn, November 30th, 2018