The lowest mandarin yield in years has forced citrus exporters in Phuentsholing, Bhutan to shut up shop early this year. The orange export usually starts from November 15 and lasts till February 15, but exporters in Phuentsholing sent their last consignment to Bangladesh on January 28. Other exporters in neighbouring districts are expected to send their final consignments this week. Citrus greening and poor management, are the causes of the low yield according to agricultural officials.
Manager of Pradhan Exporters, Sajahan, said so far they have been able to export only 65 truckloads of mandarin. Last year at this time they exported at least 150 truckloads of mandarin orange.
In Samdrupjongkhar the situation is not different. Exporters said it took almost three days for them to fill a truck. Last year they sent almost 170 trucks a day; 300 boxes of oranges fill a truck.
One of the exporters, Langa Dorji, said he managed to send only about nine trucks of oranges since he started exporting from December 10.
“If this continues, we might have to close the depot after about a week. I’ve already paid Nu 8.7 million advance to the orchard owners. I haven’t even recovered Nu 300,000 as of now,” Langa Dorji said.
Truck drivers from Samdrupjongkhar said at least 7,000 truckloads were transported by this time last year, while only about 500 trucks have supplied oranges to Burimari, the border town of Bangladesh this year. Today less than 20 trucks are there.
Political unrest in Bangladesh last year created poor market conditions that also increased transportation costs more than threefold. Despite that, prices for the produce ranged between USD 10 to USD 13 a box weighing 25kg and 27kg, depending on size and weight.
The exporters said that with the orange production declining in India, the demand for Bhutanese orange in Bangladesh has shot up propelling the price to USD 20 for big oranges and USD 17 for small oranges.
Bhutanese exporters earned USD 10.42 million from export to Bangladesh in 2014, the highest earnings in about 14 years.
Bhutan Exporters Association (BEA) figures show that Bhutan produced about 26,728.10 metric tonnes of mandarin last year, which is more than double what was produced in 2013. This does not include export to India.
Exporters in 2013 made about USD 5.6 million from oranges.
