Cold storage and deep-processing way out for Pakistani dates, to get better price in the open market, says a report published by China Economic Net on Sunday. Cold storage is probably the word that comes up most often among dates shopkeepers. The report says, Sajjad Ahmed, a dates vendor has sold a quarter of his stock so far, and it may take a year to sell the rest.
It is a situation that many store owners face. Therefore, how to store dates in cold storage is vital for them to win back their losses as much as possible. “If there is cold storage, these dates will not spoil in three years, or even five or six years,” said another vender. However, not many store owners could afford cold storage.
Anther dates vendor Haji Hanif wanted Pakistani government to subsidize cold storage for dates practitioners, or at least build some cold storage for them, “there are one or two local cold storage facilities in Sakhhar now, which is far from enough.” Shan Saeed, a chief economist at Juwai IQI, said that the biggest problem of dates production in Pakistan is inadequate cold storage facilities, followed by logistics issues. He also said that with the construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, the logistics problem should be improved. In addition to storing fresh dates in cold storage, Pakistani farmers dry them into dried dates that can be sold throughout the season. Shams ul Islam, Vice President of Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry, said the traditional date selling season is in Ramadan. After the Ramadan this year, “our growers are facing losses,” due to sluggish export performance. Habib ur Rehman, who is undertaking date business in Karachi, has embraced a bumper harvest of dates this year, yet the omens for the market are not well. Involved in the sector for more than ten years, the current predicament is unprecedented even for a veteran like him.
“I’m selling dates cheap this year, even lower than last year during the outbreak of the COVID-19,” Rehman said.
