Japan approves Pakistan’s mango facility for exports

ISLAMABAD: Advisor to Prime Minister on Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood has said that Japan approved a mango processing facility for exports from Pakistan.

On a social media website Twitter, the advisor said that the Roomi Foods Vapour heat treatment plant has been approved by the Japanese authorities for the export of mangoes from Pakistan. This was the only facility in Pakistan equipped to process mangoes as per the Japanese government quarantine requirements, he added.

“I congratulate them for this and commend the facilitation provided by Department of Plant Protection of Pakistan and Trade Counsel Tokyo Japan,” Dawood said.

The approval by Japan comes days after Australia approved two mango processing facilities of Pakistan for exports, the advisor said adding that Mustafa Agriculture Farm and Iftekhar Ahmed & Co in Sindh were approved by the Australian Department of Water, Agriculture and Environment.

This is the only facility equipped to process mangoes as per Japanese government quarantine requirements.
I congratulate them for this and commend the facilitation provided by Department of Plant Protection of Pakistan and Trade Counsel tokyo Japan. @aliya_hamza #mangoes

— Abdul Razak Dawood (@razak_dawood) June 4, 2021

In 2020, the Ministry of Commerce had disclosed that the export of local Mango increased to $104 million in 2019-20 from $78 million in the previous year 2018-19.

The main markets for Pakistan’s export are United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Afghanistan, Oman and Saudi Arabia. The Ministry of Commerce hosted a consultative session on the issues pertaining to mango exports via video link attended by Advisor to Prime Minister for Commerce and Investment Abdul Razak Dawood.

Razak Dawood advised the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) to double its efforts for marketing Pakistani mangoes abroad. The participants included Chairman of Pakistan Fruit and Vegetable Exporters, Importers and Merchants Association (PFVA) Waheed Ahmad, farmers, and exporters of mangoes.

The officials of the Ministry of Commerce (MOC), Ministry of National Food Security and Research (MNFSR), and Department of Plant Protection (DPP) were also present.

After a brief presentation by the Agro Wing of Commerce Division, the participants noted that mangoes export is maintaining a positive trajectory and Pakistani mangoes are now getting better prices as compared to previous years.

The meeting also discussed in detail all bottlenecks being faced by growers and exporters of mangoes. The main issues identified were meeting the compliance requirements, high freight charges, lack of cold storage facilities at the airports and insufficient water/vapour treatment facilities.

After extensive discussions, it was agreed that the TDAP will examine all the legal issues for operationalising the already-imported Vapour Heat Treatment (VHT) plant presently lying at Expo Centre Karachi. It was also agreed that the MOC will focus on exploring new markets and obtain tariff concessions for mango export.