Agriculture - 2

Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR) laboratories of Hyderabad have come up with solar dehydrators for increasing dates production, especially in district Khairpur, officials said on Monday. Sindh’s district Khairpur is considered as one of the largest date growing area in Pakistan but the growers have failed to fully utilise the potential of [...]

HERE are two faces of Pakistan. Lahore-based Almas Ali Jovindah is young, English-speaking, urbane and upwardly mobile. He has an export business operating out of Pakistan and the USA and spends his free time anchoring TV talk shows. Then there’s Jethanand Kohistani— Urdu-speaking, raw cotton dealer from Karachi. And both are in Pune for the [...]

Pakistan’s cotton production and consumption are expected to hit historic highs this year as it aggressively prepares to meet global competition. Pakistan is the fourth largest cotton producer in the world and poses a serious challenge to India in Western markets. Many experts believe Pakistan’s low cost of production will allow it to come out [...]

Makro, a company owned by SHV Holdings of the Netherlands, has decided to invest in Pakistan in a business that would promote fresh produce and local products in the domestic and international markets. According to a press release on December 13, Makro is a high volume, no frills wholesaler of food and other items and [...]

The devaluation of the Pakistani rupee by 4-5 per cent since July has boosted the interest of prospective African buyers of rice, traders say. A surge of orders is expected from the second half of this month and it could not come at a more opportune time for Pakistan’s rice farmers. They expect to produce [...]

Do mangoes in Lahore taste sweeter than their cousins in Lucknow? May be it is time to find out. The Pakistan government is seeking zero-duty access from India for fruit. In return, it would be willing to give similar free access to fruit and veggies from India. Islamabad has just signed trade agreements for fruits [...]

The International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC) has forecasted all-time-high world cotton production in 2004-05 of 111 million bales, amending its previous estimation of 102 million bales and estimating China as the top cotton producing nation with Pakistan taking fourth position. The US-based ICAC stated this in its recent report received here by local traders and [...]

Varieties of apple produced by Balochistan’s formers were put on display in a three-day annual Pakistan Apple Show, which began here on Tuesday. The aim of the show is to promote exports of apple and other fruits. The Balochistan Minister for Revenue Mir Asim Kurd opened the show, which has been organized by Export Promotion [...]

Pakistan’s first commodity exchange is likely to begin operations before the end of the year, initially offering gold futures contracts to enable investors to hedge against currency risks, a senior executive from the exchange said at the weekend. “It is just the rules and regulations that has to be approved by the federal government. Our [...]

Cotton trading on Monday resumed on easy note as ginners were in no mood to hold on to their unsold position in an uncertain price outlook. Arrivals of phutti into the ginneries are said to be on the higher side after picking operations were resumed in selected areas of upper Sindh and Punjab cotton belt. [...]