As Pakistan is capable of exporting about 600,000 -700,000 tons of rice to China, Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) Senior Vice President asked the Pakistan government to consider more rice exports to China keeping in view of the good relations between the two countries.
There is a lot of demand for Pakistani rice in China. Pakistan exported around 353,675 tons of rice worth $128 million to China in FY 2013-14 (July – June). But considering the reputation of Pakistani rice in China, the FPCCI Official, Pakistan government can negotiate with the Chinese authorities to import an additional 200,000 tons of rice from Pakistan yearly. He noted that he is hopeful that China would honour their request due to a large domestic demand for rice.
China imported around 2.267 million tons of rice in 2013, and around 2.244 million tons of rice in the first eleven months (January – November) of 2014, according to data from China Customs General Administration. On the other hand, Pakistan exported around 3.16 million tons of rice FY 2013-14, down about 7% from around 3.4 million tons exported in 2012-13. The South Asian country exported around 1.84 million tons of rice (around 278,973 tons of basmati and around 1.56 million tons of non-basmati) in the first six months of FY 2014-15.
