China, Pakistan eye stronger collaboration in tea industry to bridge import-export gap

BEIJING, Sep 06 : Minister at the Pakistan Embassy in China, Manzoor Ali has expressed optimism for enhanced cooperation between Pakistan and China in the tea industry.

Highlighting Pakistan’s status as a significant tea consumer with a population exceeding 200 million, he emphasized the potential for deepening bilateral trade in this sector.

Manzoor said the embassy has signed an agreement with the International Business Advisory Council of the China International Engineering Consulting Association (CAIEC) in a bid to meet domestic market demand, and also extend to neighboring Islamic countries and above all reach European nations.

According to the United Nations COMTRADE database on international trade, Pakistan, as the world’s largest tea importer, imported more than USD 600 million (about RMB 4.033 billion) worth of tea last year, while China’s exports of tea to Pakistan were USD 5.76 million during 2023. This gap shows that there is still huge potential for cooperation between China and Pakistan in the tea industry.

A senior official of Tea Research Institute, Yunnan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Qingyuan said broken tea from China and Pakistan can be blended and make new products for the international market to achieve industrial win-win.

He said in Pakistan, the demand for broken black tea is high as it is mainly used to make teabags and its price is not high in China. He said Yunnan is also searching for ways to increase its export. Industrial transfer or guidance from Yunnan to Pakistan can be a very effective way for Pak-China tea cooperation.

A Karachi-based writer, Sadia Khatri said tea is an embedded part of our culture, joy and conversations. One cannot take tea away from a Pakistani’s life. She said any time is a good time for tea in a talk with China Economic Net at the 17th Beijing International Tea Exhibition.

“I’m here to look around, hoping to find the right tea variety. As we all know, China is the birthplace of tea, as well as Pakistan has a deep-rooted tea drinking culture. Pakistanis love Chinese green tea, black tea, oolong tea, with the high-quality varieties are highly sought after in our market. The tea trade between us is not only a commercial transaction, but also a reflection of culture and emotional connection. In other words, aroma of tea merges us together,” a Pakistani trader Abdul Haq said.

He said black tea is the most popular, usually brewed with milk, spices, lemon slices and even chopped nuts in Pakistan, adding that now-a-days young people in China are also mad about milk tea, which is the proof of that “our cultures are blending and thriving together.”