India Imports Over Rs 3bn Worth Of Pakistani Dried Dates.

KARACHI: India has emerged as one of the major importers of dried dates from Pakistan as it imported 914,7817 kilograms (kg) of dates during July-March (2010-11) against the imports of 1029,1128 kg last year.

In monetary terms, Indian imported dates of Rs 3.423 billion against the previous year imports of 3.31 billion, official sources said.

Indian lead was followed by the US and UK that imported dried dates worth of Rs 51.707 million and Rs 51.980 million respectively.

Exports of dates, both fresh and dried, were recorded at Rs 4.098 billion during July-March (2010-11) against the exports of Rs 3.730 billion during July-March (2009-10).

During the period, the exports of dried dates have increased by 4.41 percent, by growing from Rs 3.453 billion to Rs 3.606 billion, according to data provided by the Commerce Ministry.

Similarly, the exports of fresh dates increased from Rs 276.519 million to Rs 492.496 million, showing an increase of 78.10 percent.

The overall exports of fresh dates stood at 625,7961 kg in 2010-11 against the exports of 485,3391 kg in 2009-10, showing an increase of 28.93 percent.

However, based on the quantity, exports of dried dates decrease by 10 percent by falling from 105,959744 kg in 2009-10 to 949,27215 kg in 2010-11.

Pakistan is one of the main growers of dates. It follows Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran and UAE in the list of top date producing countries with about 10 percent share of global production.

Balochistan is the largest date producing province followed by Sindh, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtoon Khwa.

Other countries imported dried dates from Pakistan during the period include Australia (Rs 11.695 million), Bangladesh (Rs 19.885 million), Canada (Rs 16.670 million), Japan (Rs 9.834 million), Saudi Arabia (Rs 2.035 million) and South Africa (Rs 1.345 million).

Turkey also imported dates worth of Rs 2.647 million whereas UAE, Rs 2.677 million, Qatar Rs 0.213 million and Malaysia Rs 0.264 million.

The major importer of fresh dates during 2010-11 was the US that imported 275,7199 kg of dates, worth Rs 237.049 million against the imports of 158,5415 kg worth Rs 113.529 million the year before, according to data compiled by Ministry of Commerce.

This was followed by the UK, which imported fresh dates of Rs 119.077 million during the period under review against the imports of Rs 47.587 million last year.

The other countries that imported fresh dates from Pakistan included, Bangladesh worth Rs 12.507 million, Canada Rs 7.795 million, Denmark Rs 19.734 million, Germany Rs 63.987 million, Malaysia 4.851 million and New Zealand Rs 7.366 million.

Similarly, Singapore imported dates worth Rs 1.767 million, South Africa Rs 13.770 million and Sri Lanka Rs 1.598 million.

The overall exports of dates from the country increased by 9.87 percent during the first nine months of fiscal year 2010-11 as against the corresponding period of last year.

Source : dailytimes.com.pk