The sweltering heat wave sweeping across the countrys plains; rainfall in the mountainous regions and load shedding everywhere can only mean one thing: summer is here.
But drawing sweat from Pakistanis is not all that the season is good for. Summer promises to get the mouth-watering as well.
According to the Pakistan Fruits and Vegetables Exporters and Importers Association (PFVA), the May-July period is most bountiful in terms of local varieties of fruits and other produce.
The list of in-season varieties of fruits is as mouth watering as it is long.
Mango, the king of fruits reigns supreme during the period. All five major varieties; Sindhri, Chaunsa, Dusheri, Langra and Began Pali will be in-season during the next few weeks. The Chaunsa variety will be available fresh from the farms all the way until September.
Apricots, cherries, peaches and plums have all been in the markets for some days now and will remain available through the end of June; as will lychees and watermelons.
The abundance of these fruits also bodes well for the countrys trade prospects. So far this year, there has been woefully little good news to report in terms of export of fruits from the country.
In fact, the domestic market was flooded with imports. Bananas from India and apples from New Zealand will feature prominently in the trade data whenever it is made public by the Federal Bureau of Statistics.
But massive smuggling of apples, apricots, dried fruits and other produce from Iran will likely go unreported, except through the distressed press releases issued by local fruit traders and their representative associations.
If the ambitious export target of 175,000 tons for mangoes to be harvested in this season is achieved, domestic fruit exporters may finally have something to cheer about.
However, even if the goal is met, the lack of sufficient logistics, packaging and preservation processes will ensure that the major chunk of the 1.7 million tons of mangoes along with other summer delights produced in the country will be consumed domestically.
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