China agrees to import of Pakistani mango through Land Route
Pakistan Times Business & Commerce Desk

BEIJING (China): China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine has allowed import of mango and kinnow through the land route to enhance the scope of bilateral trade in food items.

The import of Pakistani fruits by road through the Xinjiang autonomous region is eligible henceforth, provided these items meet required hygienic standard, it was officially stated here Thursday.

It was decided that necessary tests for the food product to check live bacteria and pests will be carried out at their original export's destination stations. The previous practice of checking the export-quality at the border in Kashgar has been done away with.

Meanwhile, the Authority has approved two more processing plants in Pakistan for import of mango. All together there will be three plants, one approved earlier, eligible to handle mango export to China.

The sources told APP that the approval was given on the recommendation of a Chinese delegation that visited Pakistan from July 10 to 13. The delegation found these Karachi-based plants as per international standard to verify hygienic condition of the export items.

The Pakistani exporters will now have wide choice, meeting the legal requirement of the food processing in the country before its sale in the Chinese market.

According to the sources, the Quarantine Authority has also expressed its willingness to allow import of Pakistani fruit in the local market through Guangzhou Port, the biggest one in its Southern region.

The Pakistani products will also be received through Shenzen, another major port city in China's Guangdong province. Earlier, the import for the food products was allowed only through Shanghai, Nanjing, Qiangdao,Tianjin, Dalian and Beijing.

Southern China is a major consumers' market for the imported products. According to the sources in Beijing, the decision of the Chinese government to open its Southern region will be a major step forward introducing Pakistani agro-based products in the local market.

According to the sources, with the opening of Guangzhou and Shenzen, a vast market will be available to the Pakistani exporters to sell their commodities, freely competing with other exporting countries. Initially, the Pakistani exporters will be required to launch aggressive marketing campaign to get a favourable business response.

The Authority has recently registered a growing trend among the Chinese people to eat imported fruit. Only the Guangdong Province imported 19,000 tons of fruit from ASEAN countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in January this year, a rise of 33.6 percent from the previous year.

Guangdong accounts for nearly 50 percent of China's total imports of ASEAN fruit, according to the latest Customs statistics. The province imported 386,000 tons of fruits last year, 228,000 tons of which were from ASEAN countries.

Thailand is the leading import market of Guangdong, followed by the Philippines and Indonesia.●