ISLAMABAD: Russia has lifted an embargo on import of kinno from Pakistan while maintaining ban on rice and potato, Minister for National Food Security and Research Sikandar Hayat Khan Bosan announced here on Wednesday.

At a press conference, Mr Bosan said a Russian delegation will visit Pakistan early next year for dialogue on removing restrictions on importing rice and potatoes from Pakistan. The ban on potato has been imposed due to presence of an insect in potato.

The ministry on its part would investigate and rectify the situation, he said.

Bosan said Pakistan has succeeded in removing ban on the export of kinno within two-and-a-half months, which the Russian authorities take at least a year. It was a harsh decision on the part of Russia, he said.

About the reason as to why Russia put a ban on import of kinno from Pakistan, Bosan stated that Russia had raised objections on 14 consignments due to issues related to Phytosanitary certification. “The exact reasons are still unknown,” he told a questioner.

Pakistan had sent 1840 consignments of kinno to Russia last year, fetching about $170 million by exporting 300,000 tonnes of kinno to Russia.

This year with the lifting of ban, export of kinno to Russia is likely to touch $200 million, explained Secretary Ministry of National Food Security, Seerat Asghar. Bosan thanked the Russian ambassador in Pakistan and the ministries of foreign affairs and commerce for their efforts to lift ban on kinno export to Russia.

The minister said that Pakistan had signed a memorandum of understanding with Indonesia for export of kinno, and the first consignment had been dispatched.

Rising prices: About rising prices of potatoes and tomatoes, the minister said that the price of potato in the market would see stabilisation after Dec 15 when crop from major potato growing areas in the Punjab would hit the market. The country this year has a better potato crop, he said.

He said Pakistan consumes half of its potato yield, leaving half for exports, while in the case of tomato, Pakistan has never been self-sufficient as local production meets hardly the 50pc of domestic requirement and half of the demand is met through imports.

About onion, he said the high price in the market is due to transportation cost since onion is produced largely in Sindh and Balochistan.

Another reason for high price of onion in Punjab is the commission of middleman, he said.

He revealed that middleman charges Rs40,000 commission fees per truck for tomatoes and onions.