Pakistan’s fish exports to cross $1 billion mark

The Gulf Today | April 13, 2018- With the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and related infrastructure development in Sindh and Balochistan, Pakistan’s exports in the fisheries sector have the potential to cross the $1 billion mark a year, against the current annual export of around $400 million.

Pakistan’s exports of fish products stand at about 0.25 per cent of world exports. Other than a huge domestic market, Pakistan has an export market for fish and fish products and around 30 per cent of the total produce is exported to 30 countries of the world, stated a latest report titled, ‘The state of economy: China-Pakistan Economic Corridor Review and Analysis’, issued by The Shahid Javed Burki Institute of Public Policy at NtSol.

According to the report, the fisheries sector in Balochistan is a major source of employment for people residing along the coastal belt.

Meanwhile, the Federal Committee on Agriculture (FCA) of Pakistan set production targets of major Kharif crops including cotton and sugarcane.

Target for cotton production has been set at 14.37 million bales; sugarcane at 68.157m tonnes, rice at 6.931m tonnes, and maize at 5.3m tonnes.

The target for cotton would be achieved from an area of 2.955m hectares whereas the target for rice would be achieved from over 2.805m hectares.
The crops are threatened by the shortage of irrigation water during June to September period.
Among other Kharif crops, the target of mung has been set at 120,600 tonnes, mash at 11,300 tonnes, chilies at 117,900 tonnes, and tomato at 166,700 tonnes.

Source: http://www.iccia.com/?q=mediacenter/news/25999/details/