LAHORE: Higher freight charges, unavailability of refrigerated containers and poor quality of crop are hitting the export of kinnow this season.

Exporters say that either refrigerated containers are not available or their freight charges have doubled and tripled, making the fruit costlier and leading to a drop in its sale in foreign markets.

The mandarin is exported to the Middle East, Far East, Russia, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and some European destinations.

Shaukat Basra, a citrus exporter, fears that export of the fruit will drop around 50 per cent this season because of its high cost and poor quality.

Last year, kinnow exports stood at over 450,000 tonnes, but this season it may not cross the 250,000-tonne mark as per the orders received from abroad so far, he says.

“Contrary to our expectations there are no orders from neighbouring China too, where 80 tonnes of mandarin had been exported last year.”

“We’ve reduced the export price from $4.5 per kg last year to $4 this year to absorb some of the hike in freight charges and make the fruit affordable in foreign markets, but this tactic is also failing to find buyers,” he said

Mr Basra complained that shortage of refrigerated containers and increase in the shipping transit time due to Covid-19 related restrictions are making export more difficult. The issues have been raised with PM’s Adviser on Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood and the commerce secretary, but to no avail so far, he adds.

He lamented the falling quality of local kinnow crop as canker and blemish marks on the skin of the fruit are hurting its cosmetic beauty and appeal for the customers.

Local research centres, including the Sargodha Citrus Research Institute established in 2003-04, have not been able to develop any new citrus variety and the traditional ones are losing their quality, he claimed.

Responding to a question about agriculture scientists’ claims of the development of seedless citrus varieties, Mr Basra, who is also chairman of Sargodha Chamber of Industry and Commerce, said these varieties appear only on paper, but failed practical tests.

He said that the research institute had been requested time and again to develop some early or late citrus varieties to counter the impact of climate change on kinnow crop, but they always complained of a lack of funds as a hurdle to initiating any research projects.

Published in Dawn, February 8th, 2022