Mandarins – one Pakistan’s main fresh produce exports - have been reported to be performing well this season. There has been good weather, which has led to good quality produce.
According to Abdul Malik of Union Fruit, “This season has been particularly good for us. We’ve produced better quality mandarins for both the local and export markets compared to last year. One of the issues we’ve really experienced was smog, which has affected our transportation from our farms in the North of our country. Since election period is coming up, we are also hoping that none of the politics affects our business – we’ll be working hard with other exporters and farmers to make sure that politics is avoided.”
Usually the competition for the production of mandarins comes from neighboring countries. “Our main competitors are Egypt, China and the Asian countries. Morroco, Turkey and Spain we compete in Europe. The fierce competition from the region is not so much when demand is high during the months of January, February and March,” due to the Persian New year and Chinese New Year falling respectively February and March.
Union Fruit has been in the business of Exporting fresh fruit for a long time. This year, the Unio Fruit is celebrating 30 years of exporting fresh fruit. “Right now we are available in 16 destinations around the world – including the UK, the UAE, Indonesia, Singapore, Qatar, Russia, Canada, the Philippines, etc. We’re looking to expand our clientele in large markets such as China and Africa," Malik concludes.
