Pakistan To Diversify Fruit Exports To Overcome Trade Imbalance With Malaysia - High Commissioner

Pakistan, whose delectable mangoes have been exported to the Malaysian market, is now looking to diversify its export of fruits to overcome trade imbalance with Malaysia, says High Commissioner to Malaysia, Mohammad Nafees Zakaria.

KUALA LUMPUR, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 4th Oct, 2018 ) :Pakistan, whose delectable mangoes have been exported to the Malaysian market, is now looking to diversify its export of fruits to overcome trade imbalance with Malaysia, says High Commissioner to Malaysia, Mohammad Nafees Zakaria.

He said it was crucial to expand Pakistan's export of fruits as the mango was well-accepted in Malaysia, not only by local consumers but was also in potential demand from millions of tourists visiting the country.

"Pakistan is a blessed country, it's a land of fruits and vegetables. We are going to bring many other agricultural produce like peaches and grapes, which are among the best in the world, as well as cherries and strawberries.

"Besides that, we are also bringing pomegranates, kinnow (citrus hybrid), the unique fruit only found in Pakistan as well as the blood-red orange known as Malta," he told Bernama in an interview recently after launching Pakistan's newest mango variety known as 'Azimu wala', at a leading high-end chain store near here.

Mohammad Nafees pointed out the importance of establishing a strong and effective supply chain to support fruit export that come in different seasons in ensuring consistent logistics, noting that such efforts were taking root.

He said 'Azimu wala' was the fifth variety introduced in Malaysia. It is a new variety cultivated in the historic city of Uch Sharif, located about 75km from Bahawalpur in Bahawalpur district, South Punjab of Pakistan.

Mohammad Nafees said the variety is named after the man who started its cultivation 35 years ago. Named after the mother tree, it is also known as Khoh Rate-e-wala, which could still be found in Uch Sharif.

"This 'Azimu wala' variety is quite popular in Europe due to its sweetness and was only exported to the European market, and now the Malaysian market", he said.

The high commissioner said this was the first time Pakistani mangoes were still available in the Malaysian market around this time because this was a new variety: otherwise, Pakistan's mango supply would be finished by August-end or early September.

Mohammad Nafees said in the previous year, the Malaysian market had only two varieties of Pakistan mangoes, namely the white Chaunsa and Baiganephali. Early this year, two additional varieties - yellow Chaunsa and Sindhri - were introduced.

He hoped more mango varieties could be introduced to the Malaysian market next year asPakistan had over 100 varieties.