Advisor to Prime Minister on Commerce, Industries & Production and Investment, Abdul Razak Dawood has expressed hope that exports of goods and services will cross the US $30 billion mark by the end of this financial year 2020-21. In a series of tweets on Friday, the advisor said, “We expect that by end of this FY, our total exports of goods & services will, Insha Allah, cross the US$ 30 billion mark.” He said that the Ministry of Commerce is pleased to inform that during the eleven months of the outgoing financial year (2020-21), exports of goods stand at US $22.563 billion and projected exports of services are $5.4 billion. Exports increased by 14 percent to $22.563 billion during July-May 2021, he added. Earlier chairing a consultative meeting held to review the trade trends at the Ministry of Commerce on Friday, he paid rich tributes to exporters over 18.7 percent increase in exports in May 2021 on a year-on-year (YoY) basis. He said that exporters showed this performance during difficult times despite the Covid-19 rise in May and contraction in Pakistan’s major markets and the difficulties created by the recent upsurge of Covid-19. The meeting was informed that according to the provisional figures, monthly exports in May 2021 have been on the higher side compared to May 2020. As a result, the exports in May increased to $1.657 billion compared to $1.396 billion in May 2021, showing an increase of 18.7 percent. The meeting was further informed that since there was an extended Eid holiday to control the spike of coronavirus, it also affected the overall exports in May. The meeting was told that geographically, in May 2021 top exports’ destinations are USA, China, UK, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Australia, Sri Lanka, and Kazakhstan. The meeting was further informed that imports in May 2021 grew to $2.863 billion which has mainly been due to increased imports of petroleum, palm oil, wheat, soybean, machinery, raw material, chemicals, fertilizers, and synthetic filament yarn. Pakistan has managed to enter the Japanese mango market after Japan approved one mango treatment facility in the South Asian nation to do the same. Advisor to Prime Minister on Commerce, Industries & Production and Investment, Abdul Razak Dawood announced this in a series of tweets on Friday. Dawood said that he was glad to share that after Australia, now Japan has also allowed one mango export facility of Pakistan, Roomi Foods Vapour Heat Treatment Plant, to export mangoes to Tokyo. He said that Roomi Foods Vapour Treatment Plant is the only facility equipped to process mangoes as per Japanese government quarantine requirements. He also congratulated Roomi Foods for this achievement and commended the facilitation provided by the Department of Plant Protection of Pakistan and Trade Counsel Tokyo, Japan. Earlier on May 25, Dawood in a tweet said, “Two mango treatment facilities in Pakistan, Mustafa Farm and IAC, have been approved by Australian authorities for export of mangoes from Pakistan.” The mango export target is 150,000 tons for the current season, which is estimated to fetch foreign exchange worth $127.5 million. The mango export target for last year was 80,000 tons keeping in view the significant negative impact on the economy of Covid-19 and subsequent logistic challenges. However, due to extraordinary demand for mangoes globally, the export was enhanced to 140,000 tons, fetching $120 million. Pakistan produces around 1.8 million tons of mangoes while 400,000 people earn their livelihood from the export of this seasonal fruit.