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Potato exporters likely to get 50pc freight subsidy

MUZAFFAR QURESHI

KARACHI: The Ministry of Commerce is considering grant of 50 percent freight subsidy on export of potato to dispose of about 300,000 tonnes of surplus stocks of the vegetable. The surplus has been created as a result of good potato crops in Punjab and Balochistan.

The demand for 50 percent subsidy in refrigerated containers for the export of potato was made by the fruits and vegetable exporters in a meeting held at the Export Promotion Bureau. The meeting, which was chaired by Syed Masood Alam Rizvi, Vice Chairman EPB, was also attended by Chaudhry Ghulam Mohammed, Director, Agriculture Economic Marketing, Punjab Government, Rana Shamim Ahmed, Secretary Agriculture Punjab and Wirasat Ali of Board of Investment and Trade Punjab.

Mahmood Rabbani, Chairman Export sub-committee of the All Pakistan Fruits and Vegetable Exporters Association, told Business Recoder that the Government had already offered 25 percent freight subsidy on the export of potato by sea which was not sufficient to meet the cost of exports. Increase in freight subsidy could help to dispose of the potato surplus thus rescuing the growers from losses.

The EPB has organised visits of the exporters to Bangladesh and Far East to explore the possibility of export of surplus potato. Exporters teams are also being sent to Dhaka and Kuala Lumpur to boost exports of kinno to these countries.

The meeting also discussed the progress made in export of kinno for which the government has fixed a target of 100,000 metric tonnes. The exporters said that meeting the export target would depend on the climate, quality of the fruits and prices in the local market. They said that the recent harsh cold spell had already affected the quality of kinno still in the field.

Meanwhile, the EPB is holding the firstever display of kinno in Kuala Lumpur and Penang in Malaysia from January 22 to January 31. An 11-member exporters delegation which will hold the display will also visit Singapore to meet importers to boost export of fruit.