Pakistan’s Iftikhar Ahmed & Company (IAC), a leading fresh juice and pulp producing company, has attracted international clients at the Gulf Food & Beverages Exhibition.
The event, which ended on February 24, drew businessmen from 125 countries and featured products from over 5,000 companies.
Waheed Ahmed, the Director of IAC and the patron in chief of Pakistan Fruits and Vegetable Importers and Exporters Association (PFVA), said that his company had been participating in the exhibition for the past 13 years and had received orders from international buyers. This year, IAC is expected to receive orders worth $2 million.
The exhibition is an annual event held regularly, and more than 100 Pakistani companies participated this year. Businessmen from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Italy, the United Kingdom, the USA, Canada, Mauritius, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait visited IAC’s stall and showed interest in its products.
The company hopes to find new markets where Pakistan’s pulp and concentrates are not yet exported but may start doing so soon.
IAC’s products at the exhibition included its energy booster, ABC Juice, produced under the brand of “Fruit Nation.” Other exportable products of IAC included pulps of guava and mango, tomato paste, apple juice concentrate, and dates.
These items are used in the juice and ice cream industries and are supplied to local and international industries.
IAC successfully produced some products that were previously imported, such as tomato paste and apple juice concentrate, and now exports them, reducing the country’s import bill.
IAC claims to be among the 200 companies worldwide that have their own gardens for fresh fruits and vegetables, state-of-the-art processing facilities, and food and beverage consumer products.
The company has been in business for 62 years and has invested $10 million to export its brands to more than 25 countries.
Ahmed expressed hope of better business through participation in the Gulf Food and Beverages exhibition, as the country needs to bolster its foreign exchange reserves, and IAC aims to play its part in achieving this