The export sector has some good news to report. According to a State Bank report, Pakistan's seafood exports rose by 37 percent during the July-November period this year, fetching $96.87 million as against $70.73 million for the same period last year. The increase is because of the interest shown by China, UAE, Thailand, Korea, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia.
But it could have been much greater had the EU not withdrawn from the market three years ago. The EU market accounted for 25 percent of our seafood exports until 2005-06. It has remained inaccessible to Pakistan since April 2007, when Pakistan's seafood exports were delisted due to concerns about quality. An EU mission visited the harbour following the suspension, and based on its findings, the Directorate of Food and Veterinary sent a lengthy report back to the authorities in Pakistan, pointing out a number of inadequacies related to poor hygienic conditions and storage/preservation facilities at different levels, from the fishing boats to harbour and processing units. Reports now suggest that the concerned authorities have taken several steps to improve conditions in all these areas. Hopefully, they will soon be able to convince the EU Directorate about the development made in the light of its suggestions.
Things in other areas, too, are a lot less than satisfactory. There have been a number of cases of substandard food and agricultural products exports, leading to order suspensions, even export bans. The Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP), which acts as a facilitator, needs to ensure that the black sheep in the sector do not spoil things for the genuine exporters. Aside from the general assessment standards, some countries, as well as trading blocks, like the EU, have their own assessment criteria and specifications regarding quality. Our response, as the present example shows, leaves a lot to be desired. It needs to be said though that during recent years there has been a significant improvement in the standards adopted by some sections of the export sector. For instance, due to the efforts of the Quality Review Committee, working under the auspices of the Rice Exporters Association, and Pakistan Horticulture Development Export Company, there have been fewer complaints about the quality of rice and fruit exports. Still, there is a lot of room for improvement.