The Competitiveness Support Fund (CSF), in collaboration with the Sindh Government under the Sindh Development Fund, has introduced three new varieties of Pakistani dates in the Turkish market while also exploring the Turkish packaging and processing system to identify possible markets for Pakistani dates and value-added date products, said a press release issued by CSF on Saturday.

The Pakistani date varieties from Sindh were processed on Turkish equipment. Date concentrate (jice) was extracted from the fruit.

A detailed analysis of the concentrate will be carried out in order to explore the possibility of making value added products like vinegar from Sindhi dates.  Pakistan is among the top five date producers in the world.

Currently some 250 thousand metric tonnes of dates are produced in Khairpur district in Sindh alone every year. Of these 85 per cent are of the Aseel and Karbala variety.

Currently some 250 thousand metric tonnes of dates are produced in Khairpur district in Sindh alone every year. Of these 85 per cent are of the Aseel and Karbala variety.

Pakistan mainly exports fresh dates to Bangladesh, Canada, Denmark, Germany, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, the US and UK while dried dates are exported to Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Canada, Denmark, Germany, India and Japan.

The three date varieties from Pakistan were introduced in Turkey during a recent visit by a delegation of date growers, processors and exporters from Sukkur and Khairpur. The visit was arranged by CSF.

During their visit the Pakistani delegation visited farms, factories and distributors from Izmir to Antalya. They were taken to date processing units that included cleaning, sorting, quality inspecting as well as shown various types of equipment and machinery. 

CSF is a joint initiative of the Ministry of Finance, Government of Pakistan, and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) established to reposition Pakistan’s economy on a more competitive global footing.

USAID support for CSF is part of the $2.8 billion aid that the US government has provided to Pakistan since 2002 to improve economic growth, education, health and governance and to reconstruct the earthquake-affected areas.