India – largest importer of Pakistani dates

Pakistan horticulture development and exports company (Phdec) said that the projected target of dates export from Pakistan till June 2010 was around 145,000 tonnes worth $52 million. According to Pakistani media reports, the major countries importing both fresh and dried dates from Pakistan are India, the US, the UK, Canada, Germany, Denmark, Malaysia and Indonesia. Mian Bashir, CEO of Phdec, said, « The current export of Pakistan stands at over 89,000 tonnes accounting for $32 million, while anticipated production at the same time is 0.60 million tonnes. »

« India is the largest importer with market share of about 38 per cent while France and the UK are second and third largest importers with shares of 4 per cent and 2.5 per cent respectively. The world dates import is about 0.63 million tonnes per annum while it is estimated that annually about 6 million tonnes of dates are produced world over, » Bashir informed Razi Syed of www.dailytimes.com (Pakistan).

According to food & agriculture organisation (FAO), Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran, UAE, Algeria, Pakistan, Sudan, Oman, Libya, China and Tunisia are the major date producing countries of the world.

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 10 per cent share of global production. Balochistan is the largest date producing province followed by Sindh, Punjab and North West Frontier Province (NWFP).

« Peak season for date consumption is during the month of Ramadan. Entire Muslim community around the world currently numbering 1.6 billion are loyal consumers of dates. Consumption is also quite high during Christmas. Similarly, the fruit enjoys enormous significance on the occasion of Diwali and such festivals in other religions, » Bashir added.

Source: fnbnews.com