BEIJING - Pakistani manufacturers, businessmen, and traders should display their food products at various trade exhibitions in China to enhance export, Shamsul Islam Khan, Member Managing Committee, Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) said.
“China with a population of around 1.4 billion is the world’s largest importer of grain, cotton, rice, sugar, meat, and milk and our businessmen should display these products at various exhibitions to enhance export of these items to China,” he told APP here.
Shamsul Islam who was currently visiting China to explore further business prospects pointed out that rice was one-third of Pakistan’s total agriculture export and Pakistani traders could target the Chinese market for non-basmati type rice.
Expecting a substantial increase in export of rice to China after the free trade agreement between the two countries, he proposed that Pakistan should pay attention for the value addition of its agricultural products to increase its exports.
Shamsul Islam said the export of fruits could also be enhanced to China. Most prominent among these was a citrus variant known as kinnow which hit a record high export figure in the 2017-18 Season.”We have a capacity of exporting 50,000 to 80,000 tons of kinnow to China in the next few years.”
About the export of Mangoes, he said this fruit revered as the king of fruits in Pakistan, and its export to China could be enhanced.
About the prospect of seafood to China, he pointed out that seafood consumption among the Chinese people was very high and Pakistan could take advantage to increase its export to China.
He said there were only a few outlets of Pakistani food in China and asked the Pakistani businessmen to come forward and open Pakistani restaurants in different cities of China to introduce Pakistani high-quality cuisine which was already very popular all over the world.
He also suggested opening of shops and stores in different cities of China to display and introduce Pakistan-made commodities to make Pakistan’s product more popular among the common citizens in China.
About the China Import Expo held in Shanghai, he hoped Pakistan export to China would increase substantially.
“Being a market economy, the Chinese government can encourage traders and businessmen to import from Pakistan, but as for what to import and how much to import, it would mainly be determined by the market and it is also closely related to the promotion of Pakistan products,” he added.
Pakistan, as a country of honour, had set up a pavilion at the expo and displayed its main products and highlighted the development process and achievements in science and technology, information technology and other areas.
According to the statistics, China mainly exports raw materials, computers, telecommunication equipment, trucks, chemicals, medical equipment, plastic and rubber products, textiles and household appliances to Pakistan.
While Pakistan's shipments to China include minerals, cement, optical and medical equipment and accessories, garments and agricultural products.