BEIJING: Pakistan’s sesame seed export to China surged to $42.88 million in the first two months of 2022, showing a growth of 190.48 percent on a year-on-year basis.
According to General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China (GACC), China imported 28,662.66 tons of sesame seeds worth $42.88 million, marking an increase of 141.37% by volume while last year in the same period it was 11,874.82 tons worth $14.76 million.
During the first two months of 2022, the bilateral trade has increased significantly and Pakistan’s exports to China crossed $670 million in the first two months of 2022, which recorded a nearly 23% increase this year.
In January, Rakesh Pal Khamuani, Director of Exports & Business Development told China Economic Net that sesame seed trade increased between China and Pakistan after the free trade agreement took effect. He said that China and Pakistan have always supported each other for better bilateral trade and China is the biggest importer of sesame seeds whose demand is huge and increasing every year because they also do value addition and re-export.
“In the crop year 2021-2022 (current), 90% of the crop production is exported from August 2021 to March 2022. This is the first time in history that the crop is finished earlier even before the new harvest starts, from which 80% has been just exported to China with shipments in September 2021 to March 2022,” he added.
Rakesh stated that sesame seed trade has been very important recently in Pakistan. On average Pakistan produces 100,000 tons of sesame seeds from which 85% is exported and the rest during the winter is used in the local market for bakery and sweets. This year the exports have crossed 85% of the total production in just 7 months of this fiscal year and there are 5 more months until the new harvest crops of 2022-2023.
“If we look into the year 2022, from January to March only 35% of the total production was exported to China which we were expecting much more. However, if we compare September to December 2021, the exports to China were 85% of the total production”, he mentioned.
He believes that Pakistan due to the border and geographical location, the transit time will be given priority to the Chinese buyers. However, Pakistan must have good crops with both quantity and quality. He added that weather plays an important role when it comes to the production of sesame seeds. He mentioned that it is too early to talk about the new crop in 2022-2023 as the sewing will start after April 2022.
It is to be noted that Pakistan’s export of sesame seeds to China achieved a historical figure of $120.44 million in 2021. China imported 92,516.55 tons in 2021 and was one of the main destinations for sesame seed exports from Pakistan. -Agencies
