During the first four months of the current fiscal year, total vegetable exports increased by 90% in quantity and 57% in value thanks to brisk potato shipments that countered the downward trend in onion exports caused by massive crop loss in Sindh and Balochistan.
The Pakistan Bureau of Statistics indicated that the total amount of vegetables exported from July to October was 378,826 tonnes, valued at $107 million, up from 199,119 tonnes in 4MFY22, valued at $68 million.
Despite receiving low prices on the international markets, exporters went above above and beyond to deliver massive vegetable shipments. The average price per tonne of local vegetables sold for $284 in 4MFY23 as opposed to $342 in the same time last fiscal year, despite a healthy amount of exports in terms of quantity.
Vegetable export revenues fell by 1.39 percent in quantity and value in FY22, from 937,203 tonnes to $310 million, compared to 950,369 tonnes in FY21.
Waheed Ahmed, President of the All Pakistan Fruits and Vegetable Exporters, Importers and Merchants Association, stated that vegetables are exported each year based on their availability, although potatoes and onions account for a significant portion. A bumper potato harvest has proven to be very beneficial in balancing the declining onion exports.
This year, floods in Sindh and Balochistan have ruined onion harvests, preventing bulk exports to other nations, which is a shame since otherwise, total export numbers would be more spectacular,” he said. He said that most potato shipments were going to Iraq, the Middle East, the Far East, and CIS nations.
According to the Economic Survey for FY22, potato output increased by 35% to 7.937 million tonnes in FY22 from 5.873 million tonnes in FY21 because Punjab, the country’s potato producing centre, was spared from floods.
According to Mr. Waheed, the group had advised the government to engage in barter commerce by swapping potatoes for Russian wheat, but it was unable to take place.
Before floods destroyed the crops in Sindh and Balochistan, he said that onions were exported in small amounts. By the conclusion of the current fiscal year, onion exports will really start to suffer.