Rice exports to China surge nearly 70%
Pakistan's rice exports to China recorded robust growth in the first eight months of 2025, rising around 70% year-on-year, according to data from the General Administration of Customs of China.
From January to August, Pakistan exported rice worth $44.31 million to China, compared with $26.30 million during the same period of last year, marking a 68.5% increase. The surge highlights Pakistan's expanding presence in China's food market and the strengthening of agricultural cooperation between the two countries.
An official of Pakistan's Ministry of Commerce said that a significant contributor to this increase was semi- or wholly milled rice (HS code 10063020), which fetched $33.67 million in 2025, compared with just $5.63 million in the corresponding period of 2024. Broken rice exports also performed strongly, rising to $7.71 million.
Analysts note that the growing demand for Pakistani rice reflects its strong competitiveness in terms of quality, taste and pricing. Enhanced facilitation under the China-Pakistan Free Trade Agreement and closer collaboration between exporters and importers have further accelerated the momentum.
However, Dynamic Engineering & Automation Founder and Chief Executive Owais Mir told China Economic Net that recent floods had caused significant damage to agriculture, which could negatively affect export volumes in the coming months.
He proposed that the most viable long-term solution is to shift focus from raw materials to finished or value-added products. This, he suggested, can be achieved by adopting advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence and by learning from China's proven, results-oriented agricultural practices.
Reviving flaxseed production
A recent field experiment conducted in Sindh has demonstrated that three Chinese flaxseed varieties — Longya-10, Longya-14 and Longxuan-1 — outperform the local check variety Ilsi-90 when applied with balanced NPK and boron fertilisation.
Led by the Gansu Academy of Agricultural Sciences (GAAS) and the Sindh Agriculture University (SAU), the study aims to address the declining flaxseed cultivation in Pakistan, where productivity (692 kg per hectare) lags far behind global leaders like China (1,000 kg/ha) and Canada (1,385 kg/ha).
The experiment adopted a standard randomised block design with three replications and five fertiliser treatments. Data on agronomic traits including plant height, branches per plant and grain yield as well as nutrient concentrations in leaves and seeds was collected.
Longya-14 stood out among all tested varieties: under optimal fertilisation, it reached a plant height of 78.5 cm, with 17 branches and 12 seed pods per plant. Its 1,000-seed weight hit 7.5g, grain yield reached 1,089.3 kg/ha and oil content touched 40.12%. Plus, its leaves and seeds contained higher levels of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium than Ilsi-90.