Arnous: Sanctions and foreign pressures hinder exportation of citrus crop to external markets

LATTAKIA, Jan.11, (ST)-Prime Minister Hussien Arnos has declared that citrus crop will be marketed in Syrian areas because sanctions and foreign pressures hinder the exportation of Syrian goods to external markets.

 

His remarks came during the meeting he chaired at Lattakia Governorate’s headquarters to follow up on the marketing of citrus crop upon the directives of President Bashar Al-Assad. 

 

The premier told the representatives of farmers and merchants, who attended the meeting, that the state will pay the cost of transporting the citrus crop to all Syrian areas, hoping that that there will be positive impacts on marketing the crop and reducing the prices of citrus. 

 

“Our intervention will be for the interest of the farmers…The cost of transporting the crop will not be paid by the farmers … we hope this would be positively reflected on improving prices and marketing the product,” Arnous said, according to the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA). 

 

He went on to say: “ We have made many attempts to facilitate the exportation of citrus crop to external markets, but there was no response. In parallel with our efforts to market the crop inside local markets, we will continue our attempts to support procedures of the external marketing.”

 

In August 2021, the Ministry of Agriculture said that the production of citrus in Syria, especially in Lattakia and Tartus provinces, during 2021 and 2022 is estimated at nearly 787.000 tonnes. 

 

Basma Qaddour