Pakistan is a major citrus producing country, thanks to its favourable weather conditions for growing the best quality kinnow. With an average annual harvest of 2.4 million tonnes, citrus contributes about 30 per cent to total national fruit production which is increasing at an annual rate of 1.5pc for the last two decades or so. During this period its export has expanded rapidly by 17pc per annum.

This year, however, saw a drop in exports by over 40pc as less than 200,000 tonnes of the fruit could be shipped abroad against 460,000 tonnes last year. A steep increase in freight charges, unavailability of containers, lack of banking channels in some destination countries, export bottlenecks and a reduction in the yield because of climatic changes are stated to be the main culprits behind the downfall.

Pakistan exports kinnow to 40 countries with the Middle East, Indonesia, Malaysia, Russia, Afghanistan and the Philippines as its major markets. Iran and China were to open as new markets. But, due to a lack of formal banking channels and export form issues, the exporters could not exploit the Iranian market, whereas not a single container could be shipped to China mainly because of the unavailability of containers and higher freight charges.

Ahmed Jawad, a progressive grower-cum-exporter, laments that the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) could not open formal banking channels both for Iranian and Russian markets due to which their potential could not be tapped. He says that the Iranian market can absorb between 60,000 to 80,000 tonnes of kinnow, while the size of the Russian-Ukrainian-Belarus market (the largest citrus importer in the world) for Pakistani citrus fruit may be doubled from the present around 50,000 tonnes within no time provided the government establishes proper banking links with the two markets.

A steep increase in freight charges, unavailability of containers, lack of banking channels and a reduction in the yield are the main culprits behind a decrease in exports

Pakistan had exported just 80 tonnes of kinnow to China through sea routes, while exporters were eyeing quadrupling the volume this season via land transportation. A larger fruit size, compared with that of Turk and Moroccan produce, and the exotic taste of particularly Sargodha varieties are major attractions of Pakistani kinnow for Chinese consumers. Also, Pakistan’s December-April export window complements that of China’s September-January season.

Sargodha Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Shoaib Basra believes that promotional activities in Chinese supermarkets may help win more consumers for Pakistani produce which is an economical alternative to the citrus imports there from other countries. He says that Pakistan has already developed food safety and food quality protocols — from orchard management to harvesting and processing (that includes grading, washing, fungicide, drying, packaging) — to meet Chinese standards since the signing of an agreement by Islamabad and Beijing back in 2005.

He says that refrigerated containers are used to maintain the freshness of the fruit during the transportation period that lasts for about 20-30 days by sea and may be reduced to just three or four days through land route.

Because of Covid-19 related restrictions and lockdowns, shipping companies cut their vessel operations as a cost-cutting measure and drastically increased freight charges causing an extra burden on the exporters. This proved to be a major hurdle in shipments to China, says Mr Basra.

As senior vice-chairman of the All-Pakistan Import and Export Merchants Association, he claims that against the export of 14,500 containers last season only 7,000 could be shipped this year. Out of them, around 700 containers are still entangled on the way to the Russian market because of the eruption of war there. At least 1,000 more containers could have been sent to Russia had there been no war, he adds.

Qasim Aijaz, the proprietor of a company pioneering in kinnow value addition, says some of the citrus consignments could not reach international markets due to lockdowns and problems with transportation like unavailability of refrigerated containers and thus the quality of the entire shipment deteriorated. In some cases, multiple export consignments reached the markets simultaneously leading to a glut in the market and thus a fall in the prices causing huge losses to the exporters, he explains.

He also highlights the lack of formal banking facilities in the Russian market because of which payments of exporters get stuck for longer periods and urges SBP authorities to resolve the issue at the earliest so that the potential of the market may be fully exploited. He says that overall kinnow exports may be increased to $1 billion within a few years provided the government facilitates the exporters.

Citrus production has been marred by climate changes this year. Other than naturally less production every alternate year, the citrus yield has been hit by strong hailstorms and heavy rains during the season, whereas unusually long fog spells also marred the fruit from taking its (orange) colour.

Muhammad Hanif Hanjra, an orchard grower, says the first hailstorm struck the fields when the trees were at the flowering stage followed by a couple of more spells during the harvesting season. The fruit hit by even a small hailstorm got damaged, while rains in January also caused wilting of fruits. Total crop loss is estimated to be around 30pc, he adds.

He says that there were also unusual fog spells, even in March when the temperature had gone up. The factor delayed the process of the fruit acquiring its colour.

Dr Basharat Saleem, Director (Horticulture) of Punjab Agriculture Department, however, rejects the reports of a major fall in kinnow yield as the propaganda of contractors and exporters to hoodwink and exploit the orchard owners for seeking concessions in payments.

Though he acknowledges that an extraordinarily long dry spell between August and November last year and then heavy rains in mid-January, caused stagnation of water and damaged kinnow trees.

The drop in yield, he argues, is the result of the poor use of fertiliser and application of brackish water by farmers to meet the shortage of canal water. He says that all types of fertilisers, though costly as compared to last year, were available in the market but the growers didn’t apply them.

He says that the orchard owners are also ignoring the department’s advice for pruning trees so that the fruit is exposed to more sunlight and thus develop a healthy and scenic skin that fetches more revenue from the local as well as international markets.

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, April 4th, 2022