Pakistan has boosted its seafood sales to China, in part thanks to the commencement of a bilateral free-trade agreement.
The China-Pakistan Free-Trade Agreement took effect in 2007, and its second phase with more tax incentives entered into force beginning in December 2019, according to China’s Ministry of Commerce.
Pakistan shipped USD 166.6 million (EUR 158.5 million) worth of seafood to China in the first 10 months of 2022, up 41 percent from the USD 118.1 million (EUR 112.3 million) worth of seafood it shipped to China over the same period in 2021, according to data from the General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China (GACC).
Pakistan's frozen fish sales increased 108.6 percent by value year-on-year in that timeframe to USD 45.5 million (EUR 43.3 million) and 70.1 percent year-on-year by volume to 22,332 metric tons (MT), China Economic Net reported.
Pakistan's fresh and chilled crab exports to China in the first 10 months of 2022 reached USD 22.46 million (EUR 21.4 million), up 31 percent from the same period of 2021, while its exports by volume rose 30 percent year-on-year to 3,174 MT.
Pakistan's molluscs and shellfish exports to China achieved the highest growth of all seafood categories, hitting an export value of USD 19.8 million (EUR 18.8 million), up from USD 1.89 million (EUR 1.8 million) in 2021.
Ghulam Qadir, the commercial counsellor of Pakistan's Embassy in China, attributed the growth to the China-Pakistan Free-Trade Agreement, which he said has opened way for more Pakistani seafood products to enter China.
"Now many Pakistani seafood exporters enjoy zero-traffic duty on seafood items, while they are getting more awareness about China-Pakistan Free-Trade Agreement," he said. "Recently, we registered new species under the second phase of CPFTA, which helped increase exports to China and we are negotiating with GACC to add more species to our seafood export list under CPFTA."
Qadir said many Pakistani seafood exporters are interested in pursuing partnerships with Chinese companies on technology exchange and implementation of best practices to better serve the Chinese market.
Photo courtesy of Iqbal Akhtar Hussain/Shutterstock
