Export of Pakistan’s fish meal to China hit 13,866 tons crossing a value of over $15.68 million, a year-on-year increase of 250.59% in the January-February period, as per Chinese customs data.
Regardless of the Covid-19 pandemic, bilateral trade between Pakistan and China has grown considerably. The country’s exports to China stood at $670.72 million in January-February 2022, going up 22.77% from $546.30 million in the same period of last year.
The General Administration of Customs of China (GACC) said that flours and meals of fish from Pakistan which are used in animal feed have crossed $15.68 million with a total volume of 13,866 tons, whereas it was $4.47 million last year with a total volume of 4,917 tons in the January-February period.
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Data revealed that last year, Pakistan exported 40,654.92 tons (worth $40.53 million) of the total fish meals used in animal feed to China.
Meanwhile, Khurram Naseeb from A-One Fish Meal in Karachi stated that there are many reasons for the growth, such as short supply from other countries.
“Almost all suppliers including Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, the US, Ecuador, Mauritania and Morocco limited fish meal export, whereas only Pakistan, India and Peru are exporting to China,” he said.
“At the beginning of this year, prices for other agricultural commodities increased, such as soybean meal, corn, rapeseed meal, due to the pandemic and the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
Therefore, many animals feed relies heavily on fishmeal, which comes from juvenile fish usually,” Khurram added.
Moreover, he cited that Pakistan’s fishery processing industry required improvement to increase exports following the second China-Pakistan Free Trade Agreement in which over 313 items are now enjoying duty-free access to China including fisheries. There is still a requirement to build jetties for local fishermen.
“We can increase our export and prices by improving our boats, loading time from boats to trucks, and transportation of raw fish from port to factories because Pakistan has more potential than what they are achieving now, roughly 85,000 tons per year,” Khurram mentioned.
