President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum (PBIF), Mian Zahid Hussain has noted that export of rice has increased by ten percent in volume but earnings have decreased by 8.6 percent which suggests that Indians are importing Pakistani rice and selling it under their own brand names. Policymakers should take note of the situation because rice accounts for 45 percent of country's total food exports.
He said that we are exporting meat to six Islamic countries which must be diversified. He said food trade gap is widening which will surpass two billion dollars by the end of this fiscal. Pakistan recorded a surplus of US $570 million in 2013 and surplus of US $380 million in 2014 but situation changed in 2015 when a deficit of 470 million was recorded which jumped to 1.39 billion in 2016, he said.
He said that country is importing raw, semi-finished and finished food goods in large quantities while India and China have emerged as favorite destinations for import of fruit and vegetables. He said that import of tomato from India worth three billion rupees was more than total food imports from China dominated by rice and maize. Mian Zahid Hussain said that the number of Chinese nationals would continue to surge because of the economic corridor which will also boost import of food items from China.