Islamabad:
Pakistani seafood exporters met the federal minister of maritime affairs Muhammad Junaid Anwar Chaudhry in Beijing and updated him on discussions with their Chinese counterparts while Islamabad intensifies efforts to extend fishing exports.
The Federal Minister stressed that the signing of understanding memorandums (MOUS) and the promotion of business agreements to business would play a crucial role in improving exports of peaches, strengthening aquaculture collaboration and elevation of Pakistan as key seafood center in the region. “Pakistan aims to reach $ 600 million in seafood exports during the coming fiscal year,” he said.
Among the exporters, Tariq Memon, director of international sales at Arabian Sea Products, shared that his business developed an aquaculture and an advanced system to cultivate and preserve living mud crabs and lobsters for export.
He said the initiative, in partnership with Chinese companies, aims to extend the survival time of live seafood to two or three weeks, allowing access to distant markets such as China. Memon stressed that success would strongly depend on the transfer of technology, investment and the aquaculture expertise of Chinese partners.
The federal minister noted that the Pakistan seafood export sector, including living mud crabs and lobsters, was experiencing positive growth, contributing to more than $ 465 million to total exports during the 2024-25. “Pakistan is classified as the third world exporter of mud crabs, shipping more than 3,000 tonnes of living mud crabs in China, its largest importer,” he added.
Saeed Ahmed Fareed, CEO of Legend International (PVT) LTD, offered a joint venture with a Chinese company focused on value -added seafood and poultry products, such as chicken feet. Located in Karachi, the company operates an installation of 65,000 square feet with a treatment capacity of 40 tonnes per day and holds the approval of the general customs administration by China.
Fareed explained that collaboration would help both parties reduce costs, save scale and widen the scope of exports to the United States, Europe and regional markets. Ali Reimoo, partner at Karim Impex, shared his business’s plans to develop in China and neighboring regions.
Meanwhile, Asif Muhammad Ali Shah, director of perfect food industries, highlighted the unexploited potential of lyophilized foods, a preservation technology initially developed by NASA for astronauts but is now widely used through Asia.
Shah pointed out that although countries like Thailand, Vietnam and China provide freeze -dried fruits and vegetables, Pakistan has no such facilities despite a strong international demand for products, including mango, gombo, bitter melon, Falsa and guyave.
He attributed the absence of freeze -driving factories in Pakistan to high costs of equipment and long treatment times, but said that international buyers were ready to engage in annual contracts if local production capacity was established, in particular to serve the diaspora communities and niche food markets abroad.
The Federal Minister observed that the frozen food market in Pakistan was growing, supported by significant investments in the infrastructure of the cold chain and advanced freezing technologies, which could lay the foundations for the future development of specific drying plants for seafood.
