TEHRAN: Pakistan’s mango trade with Iran seems to be under threat due to the negligence of authorities who are not following due procedures and issuing phyto-sanitary certificates to certain companies for exports, despite the fact that the fruit has not received the necessary hot water treatment. Three of the country’s consignments were intercepted last year, where the fruit was found to be infected with fruit flies. Iran has already banned Pakistan’s kinnow imports due to the same reason. Of the total 60,000 tons of mango exports, 15,000 tons (25%) are exported to Iran.
The government, on the one hand, is making grand claims of boosting exports through new measures, while on the other, the Department of Plant Protection (DPP) is taking adverse steps, which would eventually hurt the national interest. “The DPP has recently issued a phyto-sanitary certificate to a Multan-based company named Ramzan Associates for exporting 95 tons of mangoes to Iran without following the due procedure and standard modus operandi,” said a source in the Ministry of National Food Security and Research.
“The certificates were issued without examining if the commodity had undergone the essential hot water treatment or not,” the source added. According to ministry sources, product inspection through an expert committee along with hot water treatment at 48-degree centigrade for at least 60 minutes is mandatory for the phyto-sanitary certificate. “It is strange that such certificates have been issued in Multan without a proper inspection process,” the source remarked. Sources said such inspections had only been shown on paper and nothing had been done on the ground to avoid another interception, which could lead to a ban on mango exports to Iran.
