LAHORE, Oct 7: Iranian importers have shown interest in importing 20,000 tons of mandarin (kinno) from Pakistan this season, says Pakistan Horticulture Development and Export Board Chief Executive Officer Shamoon Sadiq.

The Pakistani exporters had secured the initial order of 2,000 tons during a recent visit to Iran, he said, and added: “The rest of the order was in the pipeline. The total kinno export this year may increase three times this season because the Iranian importers have shown keen interest and intent.”

The decisive factor this season, he said, would be exporters’ ability to handle big orders. They would be further facilitated by the fact that Iran had also relaxed phatosanitary requirements for import. A board delegation had gone to Iran to negotiate the kinno cold treatment requirements.

The Iranian side, which was earlier insisting on keeping export consignment in a cold storage for 22 days at 2 degrees C, had now agreed to an easy set of treatment: the period now varied between 11 to 16 days depending on temperature intensity, he said.

This should go a long way in boosting the kinno export to Iran from Pakistan, he hoped.

The Iranian government had also reportedly slashed import duty on kinno from 45 per cent to only four per cent. This would certainly give Pakistani fruit a competitive edge in the Iranian market.