BEIJING: Pakistan has exported eight shipments of at least thirty-five tons of rock salt to China from June to July this year through the Khunjerab land border.
China’s Customs Director of Khunjerab Port Zhang Xiaobo, told a Chinese media outlet that imports and exports volume across the Khunjerab Port stand at forty to eighty thousand tons per year. Daily imports are nearly 471.6 tons per day.
Xiaobo said that since 2019, Beijing had set up a dedicated border trade area for businessmen to settle rapidly bigger trades, and after a 3-year hiatus during the COVID-19 pandemic, the zone is officially in use this year, according to APP.
He said that from June to July, China received 8 shipments, amounting to thirty-five tons of Himalayan rock salt. In addition to rock salt, there are also carpets, copper as well as wooden handicrafts.
Attraction for Pakistani exporters
He added that each trader is given a tax-free trade quota worth about 1100 dollars each day. The increasing convenience is attracting Pakistani exporters who used to transit goods to China via a much longer sea route.
A trader, Wafa Baig, said it was his first time through the Khunjerab border. In July, he brought twenty-seven tons of crude quartz as the first shipment. In the future, he also plans a further 1,000 tons.
While comparing the land route with the sea route, the trader said that by sea, it takes a long time, but by road is faster.
A new airport for civilian use has been also inaugurated near the border this year, as the authorities are trying to increase business convenience through better infrastructure. – APP
