KARACHI, Aug 18: Fresh dates export is unlikely this year because of extensive damage caused by recent torrential rains to the crop in Sindh.
Sindh is a major date producing province with annual production ranging between 100,000 to 120,000 tons. After retaining 40 per cent of the total production in fresh form the balance of 60 per cent is converted into dry dates.
However, the recent heavy monsoon rains damaged around 40 per cent of the crop, which has left no exportable surplus with the country.
Last year the country earned foreign exchange of over $27 million on export of dry and fresh dates. According to official figures, around 72,817 tons of dry dates and 46,541 tons of fresh dates were exported.
In other words the country would be only exporting dry dates for which India is a major market, followed by Bangladesh and Nepal.
Depending on the crop size, the country would export between 70,000 to 60,000 tons of dry dates this year whereas there would be no export of fresh dates.
Due to shortage of crop the date prices in the local market have scrambled up to Rs40 per kg as against last year’s price range between Rs8 to Rs20 per kg.
India does not produce dates, therefore, it has to heavily depend on Pakistani dry dates, which are in excessive use in their customs as well as in some annual rituals.
Even Balochistan produces sizeable crop of dates but over 50 per cent of the production either go waste because most of the date growing areas are not accessible or consumed locally.
Similar is the case with Punjab where the date crop is much lesser than Sindh and Balochistan. However, it is mostly consumed locally and even have no exportable surplus.
Chairman, Date Exporters and Producers Association (DEPA) Mohammed Javed Tarmohammad told Dawn that after looking at the developing scenario he had urged the government to exempt date import from duty, sales tax and income tax.
He said if these measures were not taken immediately the country would face acute shortage of dates in the holy month of Ramadan. Being a common man’s diet, he said, all care should be taken to keep the prices within his reach.
The convener of Union of Small and Medium Enterprises (Unisame) Zulfikar Thaver said that his union had reminded the authorities to arrange for protection against monsoon rains and even suggested them to adopt the same technology as used in Iran to protect date palms from rain water.
Unfortunately, he said their suggestion landed on deaf ears which resulted in colossal loss to the growers who mostly depend on their annual crop.