Pakistan's rice export to China in the first 10 months of 2022 surpassed $425.90 million with a volume of 1,121,592.571 tons, China Economic Net (CEN) reported it on Friday quoting the General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China (GACC). Data showed that during the first 10 months of 2022, bilateral trade in agriculture products increased significantly and China imported more than one million tons of different types of rice, increasing 41% y-o-y. Last year in the same period it was more than 705,931.676 tons by volume and $301.21 million by worth.

This year has witnessed an increase of $124.69 million. According to GACC, the import of Broken Rice (Commodity Code 10063020) from Pakistan increased by 3.65% by worth from $192. 57 million to $199.62 million and 20.50% by volume from 408,194.590 tons last year to 491,878.156 tons. The Commercial Counsellor at Consulate General in Guangzhou, Muhammad Irfan told China Economic Net that Pakistan is striving to increase its exports to China, particularly in the agriculture sector. Pakistani rice is getting popular in the Chinese market due to its good taste and quality.

"China is the largest importer of the world and Pakistani products are getting a place in this market while Chinese hybrid seeds and technology helped Pakistani farmers increase their yield. Good prices here also helped rice exporters to export rice to China", Irfan added. Zaheer Ahmad, A Pakistani rice exporter to China told CEN that Pakistan needs to import Chinese technology to further enhance rice exports to China because much rice has been wasted while polishing and shifting.

He further said that Pakistan has high-quality land that is suitable to cultivate diverse varieties of rice, ample young labor, and good environment for agriculture. But due to a lack of technologies previously, the low average yield and degraded seeds were the main reason for less export to China. "Due to the floods, more than 45% of crops have vanished, which would impact our export to the world.  Pakistani farmers face frequent natural disasters but we can learn from China to solve these issues through the latest technologies and techniques ", he stated. 

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-INP