Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA) is likely to extend its help to Pakistan for setting up a vapor heat treatment (VHT) plant worth Rs 170 million in order to tap the higher end Japanese market. The offer was made by Yuji Aoki (Japanese Consultant, TDAP) while speaking at a meeting held at the Pakistan Horticulture Development and Export Company (PHDEC), says a spokesperson here on Monday.
The meeting was informed that PHDEC had already succeeded in sending mangoes to Japan on trial basis in its endeavours to tap higher-end Japanese market. Yuji Aoki speaking on this occasion said that the plant could be installed in Pakistan before the next mango season. He said mango was liked by Japanese people for its sweet taste but there is need to develop certain infrastructure facilities for standardisation at production, packaging and processing level to meet the SPS requirements of Japanese market.
Akram Khalid, Sr. G M Co-ordination, PHDEC chairing the meeting said that PHDEC will network with stakeholders to get their feedback and to assess the viability of this costly initiative. Nudrat H Khan Senior Manager (Marketing) PHDEC said that a comprehensive marketing campaign can be organised in Japan with the collaboration of commercial section of Pakistan Embassy in Japan.
Sarfraz H Iqbal Sr Manager apprised AOKI about the projects and services of PHDEC. It is important to note that in Japanese market mangoes are sold in pieces at a comparatively higher price which is approximately 4 times greater than the price Pakistani mangoes fetch in its traditional markets, concludes the PHDEC spokesperson.
