India is the biggest buyer of Pakistani dates

Internews/Islamabad

Pakistani farmers boil the harvested dates to produce dried dates in a palm orchard in Rajankot near the city of Hyderabad. Pakistan is the fourth largest date producing country in the world, exporting to international markets comprising 30 countries with producing 6.5mn metric tonnes annually

India appeared as the major importer of Pakistani dates as it imported almost 85 per cent of the country’s total earnings from date exports, a report by Harvest Tradings said yesterday.An official from Harvest Tradings said that it is due to the enduring commercial bonds between the growers and traders of interior Sindh and their counterparts across the border.India imported dates worth $40.235mn from the total $47.058mn exported by Pakistan last year. Harvest Tradings chief Ahmad Jawad said that Pakistan has the potential to improve its exports but has been held back due to lack of processing and packaging facilities. Pakistan is one of the world’s top five date exporters, the report said.Jawad said that India is a major importer of dried dates.