A view of quality grading of mangoes in a company in Pakistan (Photo: Internet)
Karachi: Exports of Pakistani mangoes to Iran are in jeopardy due to exporters not doing hot water treatment, Iran has objected to the consignment of Pakistani mangoes.
According to Express News, in the letter sent by the Iranian Plant Protection Department to the Pakistani Quarantine, it has been informed that the inspection of the consignment of mangoes coming from Pakistan to Iran reveals that Pakistan is exporting mangoes to Iran without hot water treatment.
According to Iranian authorities, Pakistani mangoes are not being treated to remove harmful insects, hot water treatment of mangoes is not being done to protect them from the presence of insects, hot water treatment of mangoes exported to Iran should be ensured.
The Iranian authorities have said that the Pakistani Plant Protection Department should issue a separate certificate for the treatment of each consignment along with the Phytosanitary Certificate, otherwise the Pakistani consignments will not be accepted.
Mangoes are subjected to hot water treatment to eliminate the presence of fruit flies, but some plants issue fake certificates of treatment without processing the mangoes, which puts the reputation of the country at stake and there is a fear of banning Pakistani mangoes if live flies are found in the export consignment.
Iranian authorities have clarified in the letter sent in the first week of July that by the last week of July, the Plant Protection Department should ensure the implementation of a separate verification certificate of treatment for each consignment.
On the other hand, mango exporters claim that the Pakistan Plant Protection Department has imposed strict SOPs at the height of the mango export season, which are difficult to implement, and plants that do not meet the SOPs have been stopped from operating, which is adversely affecting the export of mangoes from Pakistan and the export has decreased by 90% during this month.
When contacted, Director General of Plant Protection Department Abidullah Dutta rejected the claim of the exporters and said that the technical procedure decided in 2015 for hot water treatment is being implemented.
It should be noted that Iran is a major market for Pakistani mangoes. If the objections of the export market of 20,000 tons are not removed, it will be difficult to meet the export target of mangoes from Pakistan due to the stoppage of exports to Iran.
30 thousand tons of mangoes are exported from Pakistan to Iran. If the standards are not implemented and hot water treatment is not implemented, a loss of 1 crore 65 million dollars will be faced.
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