China imports 13,866 tons of fish meal from Pakistan in Jan-Feb

• China has imported 13,866 tons of fish meal with value of over US $15.68 million from Pakistan in first two months of this year.
• Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, bilateral trade between Pakistan and China has increased.
• Other countries limited fish meal exports, whereas only Pakistan, India, and Peru were exporting to China.

China has imported 13,866 tons of fish meal with a value of over US $15.68 million from Pakistan in the first two months of this year, registering a year-on-year increase of 250.59 percent, according to Chinese customs data.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, bilateral trade between Pakistan and China has increased significantly. Pakistan’s exports to China stood at US$ 670.72 million in January- February of FY22, up 22.77% from US$ 546.30 million in the same period of the previous year.

According to the General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China (GACC), flours and meals of fish, used in animal feeding commodity code (23012010) from Pakistan, crossed US$ 15.68 million with a total volume of 13,866 tons, while last year it was US$ 4.47 million with a total volume 4,917 tons in the January- February period.

Data showed that in 2021, the total fish meals used in animal feeding, imported from Pakistan was 40,654.92 tons, worth US$40.53 million, China Economic Net (CEN) reported.

Khurram Naseeb, A-One Fish Meal in Karachi, said that there were several reasons for the growth, including a short supply from other countries: almost all suppliers, including Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, the USA, Ecuador, Mauritania, and Morocco, limited fish meal exports, whereas only Pakistan, India, and Peru were exporting to China.

“At the beginning of this year, prices for other agricultural commodities increase a lot, 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 fish meal, which comes from juvenile fish usually”, Khurram added.

He mentioned that Pakistan’s fishery processing industry needs improvement to enhance exports. Although due to the 2nd China-Pakistan Free Trade Agreement, in which more than 313 items are now enjoying duty-free access to China, including fisheries; there is still a need 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 stated.