Citrus exporters to Russia must focus on proper banking channels

Pakistan's exporters of citrus need to focus on Russian market which offers a huge potential and is a big market, ready to absorb as much as they could export during the coming season. The exporters must go through proper banking channels as, in the past, due to payment issues, Pakistan's exporters had to bear huge losses, CEO of Harvest Trading, Ahmad Jawad, told Business Recorder on Tuesday.
Harvesting of citrus fruits is due to start after two months and would continue till March next year. Every year, Pakistan's exporters have been shipping Pakistani citrus fruits to Russia but they have suffered losses due to payment issues. To avoid such a situation, Jawad suggested that "we must develop trade relationship between both governments on priority basis and also strive for confidence-building with Russian importers".
This year, although citrus imports in Russia (European, Western and Far East) are on the rise, there is still plenty of room left for further market growth, he said. Pakistan is ranked 13th among citrus producer in the world with an area of 185,000 hectares, producing 2.1 million tonnes of citrus fruits. Russia's fresh citrus imports are on the increase, as a result of social and economic developments shaping the vast country, which grows no citrus of its own.
Citrus imports rose 29 percent, in volume terms, between January and April this year, compared to the same time period of last year, and increased by 16 percent in 2010 as compared to 2009, reaching a record 1.5 million tonnes. In 2010, the Russian citrus market was valued at $1.2 billion. Jawad attributed this surge in citrus imports to a healthy eating trend gripping Russian consumers, as well as an uptick in consumer spending.
Jawad further said there is plenty of room, since Russian per capita fruit consumption remains lower than levels in Europe, the US, Japan and China. Russian fruit market is far from saturated and has good potential for further expansion. Citrus is the second most popular fruit category in Russia, after apples. In 2010, mandarins were the top imported citrus commodity, in volume terms, with a 45 percent of market share (654,840 tonnes), followed by oranges (33 percent share with 495,565 tonnes), lemons and limes (14 percent combined, with 213,972 tonnes), and grapefruit (8 percent with 112,323 tonnes).
For the first time in the country' history, kinnow export had crossed $100 million mark during the FY 2010/11, indicating tremendous achievement on the part of Pakistan's exporters in terms of earning valuable foreign currency which substantially contributes to the national exchequer. There is, however, still plenty of room for improvement, Jawad said.