Production of Kinnow during this year is expected to be around 2 million metric tons, however due to limited availability of good quality of exportable Kinnow, the export target has been curtailed this year. Waheed Ahmed former chairman PFVA & Vice President-FPCCI said that a record export volume of 375,000 tons was attained during last year fetching foreign exchange of $200 million while with the current export volume of 325,000 tons, the country is expected to earn foreign exchange amounting to $180million.
"Pakistan is facing a real tough competition with Turkey, Morocco and other big producers of citrus fruits in the international markets due to high cost of production of citrus fruit," he added. The devaluation of Pakistani currency has lost its favourable impact due to upward revision of freight charges by the shipping companies, rise in cost of packing material and substantial increase in local transportation charges while with an increase of Rs 100, the cost of purchase of Kinnow has become Rs800 per mound this year, he mentioned.
Russia, Indonesia, Gulf countries and Middle Eastern countries are big importers of Pakistani Kinnow while Iran had also been a big buyer as well, however this is the seventh consecutive season of Kinnow, Pakistan continues to face ban on import export of Kinnow by the government of Iran, he added.
Waheed informed that Iran having capacity of 80,000 to 100,000 ton of Pakistani Kinnow which had been closed for several years. Though Russia is a big market of Pakistani Kinnow, however Pakistan is faced with stiff competition from Morocco & Turkey in this market.
Due to bumper crop of Kinnow in Morocco & Turkey coupled with devaluation of Turkish currency, Moroccan & Turkey exporters would get good benefit of these factors and it would be easy for them to compete in the Russian market, he added. According to Waheed, the collective export of Citrus fruit and value-added products can be enhanced up to one billion US dollar within five years, however to attain this target, it's imperative to grow new varieties of Citrus fruits through extensive Research & Development besides ensuring Kinnow "free from all diseases" and to increase yield per acre by setting up new orchards.
Punjab is a hub of Kinnow production, but it's agriculture department has not paid any serious attention and similarly making plea of 18th amendment, the Federal Govt. has also ignored issue of Kinnow Industry, he said and added that due to poor quality and various diseases which has engulfed Kinnow, Pakistan has been unable to take advantage of the gigantic International markets of China and Europe.
However, now in this changing scenario due to ongoing project of CPEC the access to Chinese big market would become easy and it's anticipated that China would become a big buyer of Pakistani Kinnow, however we would be required to be well focused on R&D to meet requirements of Chinese market and assistance can be sought from china in this context. PFVA has already initiated extensive efforts through collaboration with agriculture research based institutions and agriculture universities to improve quality and yield and this link can be extended to the research based institutions and agriculture universities of China. By acquiring technology from China, production of crop of Kinnow and other fruits can be substantially enhanced, Waheed mentioned.