Punjab's new government has quite the task ahead of it as they look to compete with Pakistan on 'Kinnow'. For this, the state-run Punjab Agro Industries (PAIC) have set a target to catch the pace of Pakistan’s annual exports of around four million tonnes of ‘Kinnow’ every year.
Spurred on by last year’s export of 5,000 tonnes of ‘Kinnow’ to Russia, Ukraine and the Middle East, the PAIC is hoping to accelerate its export efforts to 20,000 tonnes of ‘Kinnow’ to the domestic and international markets.
Sources said that the major targeted export will be done in international markets such as Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia, Dubai and Iran by sea.
PAIC officials have also been looking to strengthen its cold chain system. The corporation is in the process of partnering with top companies to make a successful export of 20,000 tons of Kinnow in the coming year.
Kahan Singh Pannu, Managing Director of PAIC, told The Statesman, “We are in the process of gearing up efforts on Kinnow exports at the international level. This move is likely to benefit the Kinnow growers of the state. We are also working to import citrus fruit clippers and harvesting bags, besides providing specialised training to the workers engaged in fruit picking in the orchards,” he said.
