LAHORE, July 17: The United Arab Emirates has imported around 50 million kilogram Pakistani mangoes at a cost of $14.2 million. This was claimed by an official of the Pakistan Horticulture Development & Export Board (PHDEB) here on Sunday.

Citing export figures, he said from amongst the UAE federating units, Dubai remained the largest importer with a purchase of over 43 million kilogram mangoes worth $12 million. Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Fujairah and Ras-al-Khaima followed Dubai in the same order.

The Dubai fruit traders, he said, in addition to meeting local demand also re-exported mangoes to other regional countries. That explained Dubai’s big import order, he said.

Saudi Arabia had also imported over 20 million kilogram mangoes with a total cost of $7.5 million till mid-summer this year, the PHDEB official said.

The third largest importer is Oman and the United Kingdom.

Both imported over five million kilogram each. He said these figures represented a major improvement in the exports during 2002-03 and showed, in some cases, an increase of nearly 65 per cent.

Finding reasons of this substantial increase, he said one factor could be improvement in quality and varieties — the advent of better tasting and healthier fruits with new tastes and aromas.

Another reason was that, after a gap of 30 years, Afghanistan had also started importing mangoes — nearly 2.5 million kilogram — in the last 12 months, he said.

He said India, though having a very large crop of its own, also imported mangoes from Pakistan because of seasonal variation; its varieties start from early February and last till the end of June. During the last two seasons it imported around 528,000 kilogram mangoes - a 10 times increase over the figures recorded in 2002-03.

Other countries importing mangoes from Pakistan included Canada, USA, Portugal, Russia, Brazil, Chad, Burkina Fasso, Spain, Bolivia, Bangladesh, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, France, Malaysia, Austria, Lebanon, Syria and states in the Central Asia.

Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong had shown interest in certain varieties such as Sindhari, Began-Phali, Chaunsa and Samar Behisht, he said.

Talking about domestic production, he said total yield was expected to be higher by nine per cent this season; around 1.2 million ton this season compared to 1.1 million ton last year.

Based on higher mango production this season, he also saw exports going up. The MoUs with Iran and China should also lend a helping hand, he said.

The total mango export stood at around 77,000 ton last year which fetched $23.5 million in foreign exchange.

“The country should expect around 100,000 tons of mango export this year, bringing $30 to $35 million,” he hoped.

He did not see any major threat from “sudden death” disease afflicting crop in some areas in Sindh and Punjab. Incessant rains and dust storm in the first week of June did some damage, but it did not turn out to be substantial. The reports of crop size were quite normal, he said.

Talking about possibilities of two MoUs, he said an Iranian quarantine department delegation visited Pakistan recently and cleared most of the quarantine facilities here. It had also allowed export through air and sea routes.

The exporters had also started getting insurance coverage of mango consignment, covering any unforeseen losses. All these factors should have a very positive cumulative impact on export of the crop, he hoped.

A PHDEB delegation would also leave for Iran by July-end to create linkages and expand export possibilities, he said.