Eight months into Pakistan’s financial calendar, the country’s seafood exports are up 23 percent by volume and 12 percent by value year-over-year.
Between July 2022 and February 2023, Pakistan exported 126,270 metric tons (MT) of seafood valued at USD 300.2 million (EUR 275.3 million), up from 100,154 MT valued at USD 267.8 million (EUR 245.5 million) in the same period the year prior. Seafood exports grew nearly 5.8 percent by volume and 5.6 percent by value in February 2023 compared to the month prior, hitting totals of 18,548 MT of exports valued at USD 38.3 million (EUR 35.1 million), according to The Nation.
Exports to China fueled the growth, according to Ghulam Qadir, the commercial counselor in Pakistan’s Embassy in Beijing, speaking with China Economic Net. In 2022, Pakistan exported USD 198.3 million (EUR 181.8 million) in seafood to China, up from USD 139.3 million (EUR 127.7 million) in 2021, when Pakistani exporters struggled with strict import restrictions in China. Pakistan’s exports of frozen fish nearly doubled in value year-over-year in 2022, reaching USD 63.3 million (EUR 58.0 million) in value and 30,637 MT in volume, up from USD 33.4 million (EUR 30.6 million) and 18,987 MT in 2021.
“The increase in Pakistan’s seafood exports to China is largely attributed to the increasing demand for fish of the Chinese people and the growing popularity of Pakistani fish in Chinese restaurants,” Qadir said. “This has led to a successive increase in Pakistani seafood exports every year since 2020.”
The China-Pakistan Free Trade Agreement has been a boon to Pakistani seafood exporters, Qadir said, with more seafood species being added to the list of zero-tariff items over the past year.
“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 told Pakistan Today in December 2022.
More Pakistani seafood exporters are interested in exporting to China and are seeking collaborations with Chinese companies that will help them boost production, including sharing of aquaculture technology expertise and best practices, Qadir said. An expansion of the Gwadar fishing port has also helped Pakistan expand its exports to China.
Pakistan exports seafood to around 45 countries, with China its top market, and Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, and the Middle East its other primary markets. It is currently blocked from exporting shrimp and pangasius to the United States due to its determination the country’s fishing fleet was not adequately using turtle-excluder devices.
“If the U.S. restriction is removed, we can easily increase our shrimp exports by USD 150 million [EUR 137 million],” Pakistan Fisheries Exporters Association Chairman Muslim S. Mohammedi told Dawn in June 2022.
The European Union has also blocked Pakistani seafood from entering the bloc due to concerns over sanitary conditions in the South Asian country. An E.U. inspection team was scheduled to visit Pakistan in 2022 but the inspection did not take place due to delays in setting up the inspection by the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan and Federal Commerce Ministry to have the Federal Ministry of Maritime Affairs, according to the Pakistan Business Recorder.
Overfishing is also concern in the country’s fishing industry, according to Dawn, which cited demand from China for fishmeal for its domestic aquaculture industry as one source of the problem.
Seafood is Pakistan’s fifth most-valuable export commodity. Pakistan exported 166,267 MT of seafood worth USD 430.7 million (EUR 395 million) in its last full fiscal year, which ended June 2022.
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