KARACHI, Feb 2: The country may miss the revised 125,000 tons kinno export target by a big margin set for the current season owing to duty curbs and falling demand from the major buyers.

The only hope is Iran provided it brings down import duty on kinno to four per cent from 45 per cent in the current month as was promised by the Iranian authorities with a Pakistani delegation that visited Tehran in December 2008.

All Pakistan Fruits and Vegetable Importers and Exporters Association Chairman Abdul Wahid told Dawn that the target had been revised down to 125,000 from 225,000 tons and even it would not be achievable if Iran did not reduce the duty.

He said exports to Indonesia, the major market of kinno, had come to almost zero after Jakarta imposed 40 per cent import duty on Pakistani kinno. The demand had also depressed from the Middle East and European markets, which have been confronting with severe recession in decades.

He however said the Russian market had so far been normal as exporters shipped about 15,000 tons and hoped that sales to Russian buyers would touch 35,000 tons by end of this month.

The Chinese market has been proving tough as Pakistan kinno with price tag of $4.5 per carton finds it difficult to compete with the local citrus which is available at $3 per carton, he added.

Mr Wahid urged long-term measures for the development of new kinno varieties to sustain its future exports. “So far the country exports have been surviving only on one variety. We have to develop seedless variety of kinno if we want a share in the European market which offers a good price for the fruit,” he elaborated.

He demanded of the government to provide Research and Development (R&D) subsidy to the growers-cum-exporters to improve the quality of kinno that suffers from effects of fruit-fly which leave marks on fruits skin. “We must improve the cosmetic of our fruit,” he stressed.

Khalid Ijaz, a leading fruit exporter, said that high freight cost was the main factor for making Pakistani kinno uncompetitive on world markets.

He said that despite 60 per cent decline in international oil prices, the shipping companies reduced freight charges by only 5 to 7 per cent for Pakistan, while in India and China these companies had cut their freight rates by 50 to 70 per cent to attract cargo.

He urged the government to persuade the airlines to cut their fares in line with the fall in oil prices for the forthcoming mango season otherwise the mango exports would suffer badly.