He said that China is a market for a minimum of 100,000 tonnes of Pakistani kinnow due to their high demand and it depends how we tap this big opportunity.
He said kinnow (Mandarin) have always been considered as a traditional symbol of good fortune in China. This is mainly because the word orange, when spoken in mandarin, sounds similar to the word "wealth". The orange hue of the fruit is also said to symbolise "gold", which makes it a very auspicious fruit.
Jawad also briefed that Pakistan managed to find out two new markets for citrus export as Philippines and China are open for Pakistan's citrus fruits now. "It is very heartening to note that Pakistan has targeted China and Philippines markets for kinnow export and expected boost in kinnow export is about 20 percent this year."
"CPEC is poised to give tremendous boost to the horticulture industry in Pakistan, which has a promising outlook," Jawad added. "However, presently we are facing many challenges internationally as European Union and other developed countries of the world are creating barriers for our agro exports."
UK, Australia, Japan, Korea even few central Asian countries are setting new standards for imports; there are SPS, pesticide residue elimination, cold treatment and pest free area. He said these are difficult and costly and hence affecting our exports to a considerable level. Jawad further said we are facing two problems in citrus: citrus canker and citrus graining which is detrimental to "kinnow" exports but now growers are very conscious to overcome it.