Habib ur Rehman, who has been in the date palm business at pakistan's Karachi date market for more than a decade, has faced more difficulties than expected this year.
"This year my dates have been sold very cheaply, and even during the epidemic last year, my dates have not sold for such a low price."
Not only Rahman, but the entire date palm market is sluggish. Hub Ali Jatoi, head of a supermarket in Pakistan, said the profits of dates continued to dilute as prices fell, "In the past, low-quality dates sold for 3,000 rupees for 40 kilograms, but now they can only sell for 1,500 rupees." ”
In Karachi, Peshawar, and Pakistan,000 date palm shops large and small are all facing losses, and the reasons for all this are not simple.
The picture shows the date palm forest in Pakistan Source: China Economic Network
Pakistan's date palm industry was hit by imported dates
Ramaish Kumar, a senior vice president of a Pakistani company, believes that the large number of dates from the Middle East entering Pakistan is the main reason for the decline in the price of dates.
Many people in the industry share the same view. Haji Hanif, secretary general of the Karachi Date Palm Chamber, said that last year's Pakistani border was closed, and the import of dates was not smooth and the price was high, while this year the border was opened, and a large number of imported dates entered Pakistan, "local dates can only be sold at low profits." ”
Sajjad Ahmed, a date palm shop owner in Karachi, also believes that imported dates have compressed the living space of dates, "it is better to give priority to the sale of dates from Pakistan, otherwise it will waste a lot." ”
Muhamamd Sabir, chairman of the Karachi Date Palm Chamber of Commerce, said that Pakistan's date palm production is not so large, citing import data, saying: "Pakistan imports dates from Iraq and Iran between 12,000 tons and 15,000 to 20,000 tons, respectively, and if there is no import, it will not make up for the consumption gap of Pakistani dates." ”
Whether local date palm merchants want to or not, Middle Eastern dates are exported violently to the world. According to the latest data from the Saudi National Date Palm Center, exports in the first half of 2021 reached 185,000 tons, an increase of more than 50% year-on-year, and exports reached 186 million US dollars.
The picture shows the Pakistani date palm Source: China Economic Network
refrigeratory! refrigeratory! refrigeratory!
In the mouth of various date palm shop owners, cold storage may be the most frequent word, Sajad Ahmad has sold 1/4 of the inventory so far, the remaining part may take a year to sell, many shopkeepers are facing such a situation, so how to use cold storage to store dates, is their means to recover losses as much as possible.
"If there is a cold storage, these dates will not spoil for three years, even five or six years." Habib Rahman said, however, he also acknowledges that not many shopkeepers can afford cold storage.
Haji Hanif wants the Palestinian government to provide cold storage subsidies to date palm practitioners, or at least some cold storage for use by the Pakistani government, "Now there are one or two cold storage in Sakhhar, which is far from enough." ”
Shan Saeed, chief economist at IQI, said bluntly that the biggest problem with the production of dates in Pakistan is that there are not enough cold storage, followed by logistics problems. He also said that with the construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, logistics problems will improve.
In addition to storing fresh dates in cold storage, Pakistani farmers also dry dates, which can be sold throughout the season. But Shams ul Islam, vice president of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the traditional date palm sales season is during Ramadan, and after Ramadan this year, as pakistani date palm exports tighten, "growers face losses." ”
Double the value of the dates
In the early stage of the epidemic in 2020, due to logistics problems, agricultural products in some parts of China have been slow to sell, how do Chinese farmers respond?
Chinese farmers simply process some of their produce to extend storage time and increase the value of their products, such as making wine or pressing oil.
In the interview, almost no date palm shop owner mentioned that the date palm should be deeply processed, and Tang Minmin, an associate researcher at the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences, told the China Economic Network that some countries import Pakistani dates, process them slightly, and sell them back to Pakistan, making Pakistan's own date palm industry "very hurt.".
"Our growers think that adding value is just turning dates into dried dates, but date palm syrup is also an important source of added value." Shams Islam said that many European countries import Middle Eastern dates and then denuclearize them and sell them to the world, which is several times the value of dates.
Chinese consumers know more about dates than dates. In the past, although red dates were good tonics, deep processing was limited to the production of dried dates or dates, and the level of profitability was not high.
However, now China's jujube industry has shifted from extensive processing to on-site deep processing. Tang Minmin said, "China has developed a jujube concentrate with traditional characteristics, jujube vinegar, jujube jelly, as well as some jujube oral liquids and jujube red pigments with health care functions, which have gradually been recognized by the market." ”
The global date palm market reached 79 billion yuan in 2020 and is expected to reach 112 billion yuan in 2026. The expansion of the market is visible to the naked eye, if you can not seize this wave of dividends to go abroad, Pakistan's local date palm market will be more affected.
Shan Saeed is very concerned about China's jujube consumption market, "We should open up the Chinese market, adopt Chinese technology, and even ask Chinese farmers to teach skills." ”
As Chinese pay more and more attention to health, sugar intake continues to decline. A report from China's takeaway industry shows that more than half of milk tea orders are asked to fall below standard sugar. The size of China's sugar-free beverage market is expected to reach 27.66 billion yuan in 2027, and China's sugar-free beverage industry will maintain double-digit growth in the next few years.
"In China, the habit of living with less sugar has arrived, and dates can be made into sweeteners, which is healthier than ordinary sucrose." Shams Islam believes that by offering products such as seedless dates and chocolate dates, Pakistani dates can win over Chinese consumers.
Dr. Iqrar Ahmad khan, former president of Faisalabad Agricultural University in Pakistan, has been paying attention to the Chinese jujube syrup market, "Now some Chinese investors are very interested in our mangoes, but in fact the economic return on dates is higher than that of mangoes, and the Chinese jujube consumer market is huge, so this area is very worth exploring." ”
What can China bring to Pakistan's native dates?
Although the value of dates turned into date syrup doubled, Dr. Iqral Ahmed Khan also reluctantly said that ordinary Pakistani farmers could not afford to buy equipment.
Dr. Iqlal Ahmed Khan hopes that through cooperation with China, more modern technologies will be supported by more modern technologies in the field of further processing of dates, "in turn, higher output, mechanized production and expanded production bases." ”
Tang Minmin's Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences and Pakistan's Faisalabad Agricultural University have a long-standing cooperation, but she also acknowledges that the academic cooperation between the two countries in dates is mainly limited to pest control, and cooperation on breeding and other increases in yields has not yet begun.
From a grower's perspective, Shan Said believes That Pakistani farmers need to find ways to increase yields. "The farmer keeps shifting his attention from dates to cotton, sugar cane, onions, but he should only focus on what he is good at." Shan Saeed believes that China's experience in technology and yield can help Pakistani farmers, "if we establish some joint ventures with China, it will be more advantageous." ”
In the second phase of the construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, the cooperation between China and Pakistan in the agricultural field has gradually increased, and agricultural technologies such as breeding and machinery have been continuously launched in Pakistan, and Shams Islam believes that if modern processing technology is introduced, pakistan's date palm industry will usher in new development prospects and can participate more in China's large market. (China Economic Network reporter Jia Wei)
Source: China Economic Network