KARACHI, Jan 6: Iran has approved all 20 cold storage plants for fruit fly treatment in Pakistan for export of kinno to that country. Last year, only four plants were eligible for processing of fruits shipment to Tehran.

The approval was given by Dr Darabi, head of quarantine department in Tehran at a meeting with a visiting Pakistani delegation, headed by Abdul Wahid, chairman, All-Pakistan Fruits and Vegetable Importers and Exporters Association.

During talks, the Iranian authorities also agreed to reduce duty on import of kinno from 45 per cent to 4 per cent from Jan 15.

The concession will be announced during President Zardari’s forthcoming visit to Iran.

The Pakistani delegation also signed an MoU with Tehran Chamber of Commerce and Industry to cooperate in resolving trade disputes between businessmen of the two countries.

The two sides agreed to appoint surveyors in each other’s countries to carry out pre-shipment inspection of goods to eliminate disputes about quality.

Giving details of the approval of cold storage for fruit fly treatment, Mr Wahid said that with the approval of about 20 treatment plants sea freight to Iran will come down to $2,000 to 2,200 per 40 ft container against $3,200 presently charged by Maersk for maintenance of required temperature of fruits during journey.

He said due to limited cold treatment facility at present, the exporters were compelled to ship their kinnos through Maersk, which had the monopoly to have onboard treatment.

With the treatment facility extended to all cold storage plants, the shipment time would be drastically cut to four days from the existing 16 days by Maersk.

Mr Wahid maintained that as a result of load-shedding and high import duty, export of kinno to Iran had decreased by 50 per cent. Last year, exports to Iran stood at 50,000 tons with 60,000 tons target fixed for the current season.

The export, however, is expected to reach 35,000 tons from 15,000 achieved so far due to extended cold storage facility.

He said that exporters would try to boost export of kinno to the maximum after Jan 15 when the duty is reduced to four per cent. They would have only two months -- February and March -- of the season to achieve maximum exports.

He further said that the facility of shipping kinnos by other airlines would make the sea freight cheaper than road, which would discourage informal exports through land routes, affecting exporters’ business and the government revenue.

The delegation during its stay in Iran also visited the Karman Shah region of Iran, which has vast border trade with Iraq.

The Karman Shah chamber expressed its desire to start direct trade in fruits and vegetables with Pakistan which is currently carried out through Tehran.

The delegation also included a leading fruit exporter Khalid Ijaz who described the approval of all cold storage plants in Pakistan by the Iran’s quarantine department a big achievement.