Skip to main content

Kabul juice factory trying to export Afghanistan juice to Central Asia markets

Omid Bahar, a juice production factory in Kabul, is trying to export Afghanistan juice to India and other central Asia markets. Factory employees say Afghanistan’s fruit is of good quality and demands for the country's juice are on the rise in domestic and world’s markets. Omid Bahar is now trying to grow its investments to make this possible. Pakistan has increased custom charges on Afghanistan juice up to 60 percent and that it prevents Afghanistan juice from being exported to that country, the official said. The factory was established seven years ago with a low capacity of fruit processing, but now they can produce 200,000 liters juice and milk daily, say employees. “Last year, the market for our products was less, but this year it is good, it is improving,” a technical employee of the factory Ali Reza said. The owner of Omid Bahar factory, Abdul Rahman, said this year they were able to change thousands of tons of fruits to powder and then use the powder for making juice. Abdul Rahman said they are trying to export 17 types of juice to the Indian and Central Asian markets. “At the first step, we have exports to India. We have sent some products to Pakistan in order to get feedback from them. We have the capacity of producing 200,000 liters of juice every day. It is high for Afghanistan, we should start exporting our products (to other countries),” said Abdul Rahman. Currently, over 150 people work in the Omid Bahar factory and if the factory’s activities are expanded, more people will be hired. “We will not have to migrate to other countries for work if there are factories like this in Afghanistan,” Reshad, an employee of the factory said.
>>> READ ORIGINAL ARTICLE on HeartOfAsia.af