Pakistan Can Earn $2bn From Potato Export To China: Farmers

Web Desk — Potato exports to China could earn Pakistan about $2 billion as containers are available at cheaper rates to local exporters under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). 

PGA Pakistan president Mian Muhammad Siddique and vice president Chaudhry Maqsood Ahmad Jutt, who is also chairman of the Potato Research & Development Board, said this in an interview with Dawn.

They stated they were waiting for the government to forward the proposal but have been waiting for 1.5 years for a meeting with the Adviser to Prime Minister of Commerce Razak Dawood who was too ‘busy’ to spare some time to formulate a potato export policy. 

They claimed that suggestions had already been sent to the Agro Wing working under the Federal Ministry of Commerce.

Golden Investment Opportunity For Small Account Holders

POCO M4 Pro Debuts: The Ultimate Entertainment Experience

Mr Siddique and Mr Jutt said a five-year policy for potato export was to be made at a webinar, presided over by Mr Dawood, but it didn’t occur. Participating in the webinar were the then federal commerce secretary, the director of the Potato Research Institute (PRI) Punjab, the patron-in-chief of the Vegetable Export Association (VEA) Pakistan, and others. However, no further meetings had been convened since then, and the current potato harvesting season was also coming to an end.

The farmers claimed this year’s potato production was bumper, with an estimated 6 to 7 million tonne surplus, but it was still just six percent of Chinese consumption (6 million tonnes). They said China faced a shortage of table potatoes from February to May.

The 105-110kg sack rate had fallen to Rs1,000 to Rs1,300, and growers had to pay an average of Rs500 per bag in labor costs. During the harvesting season, fruit and vegetable markets in Okara and Dipalpur charged Rs3,000 per sack. The Okara district contributes more than 22 percent to the total national potato crop.

According to both farmers, 230,000 tonnes of potato had been exported by the private sector on its own but exports were reduced after the Ukraine crisis. However, Iraq is going to purchase potatoes from Pakistan and Russia is in dialogue to import potatoes.