Chinese park courts Pakistani pine nuts, rice

Wang said the park is also interested in sharing food-processing expertise with Pakistani businesses, particularly modern techniques for slaughtering, processing and preserving beef to maintain its freshness and quality.

Pakistan already exports boiled beef to China, and such techniques would help enhance those exports., Pakistan shipped 2.38 million kilogrammes of boiled beef under HS code 16025090, with exports valued at $14.52 million. Such cooperation could create opportunities for Pakistani agricultural exporters and food businesses to access China's market while enabling Chinese enterprises to explore new customers in Pakistan.

Pakistan's agricultural sector offers products with potential for international trade, while its large consumer market provides opportunities for Chinese companies selling a broad range of goods. Developing two-way trade, however, requires appropriate import approvals, product standards, logistics arrangements and market research.

Established in late 2023 with an investment of 47 million yuan, the park aims to help local enterprises overcome barriers in branding, marketing, logistics and international trade. It has connected with 135 companies and brought together more than 1,200 varieties of products, including beef and mutton, corn, blueberries, sea buckthorn juice and other regional specialities.

The park provides warehousing and fulfilment services for 49 businesses, including established enterprises, state-owned companies, small and medium-sized enterprises and young entrepreneurs. Rather than requiring individual producers to manage every stage of sales, it helps coordinate product aggregation, online promotion, order processing, delivery and after-sales services.

This enables businesses to concentrate on production and product quality while benefiting from shared sales and logistics networks. It also operates livestreaming facilities and works with trading partners in Shanghai to connect local products with domestic and international buyers.

Wang cited a corn producer from Molidawa Daur Autonomous Banner as an example of how e-commerce can help smaller businesses grow. With support from the park, the company connected with Chinese livestreaming platform Oriental Selection, where a single livestream generated around 500,000 yuan in sales,.

The company subsequently built a factory, created local employment opportunities and obtained import and export qualifications. The park has established an airport-linked city cargo station to improve distribution of regional products. Wang said it could support same-day or next-day delivery to 25 Chinese cities, helping businesses transport products to distant markets more efficiently.

The park is also exploring overseas opportunities for cold beverages and other consumer goods, including markets in Russia, the United States, Iraq and Southeast Asia. For cooperation with Pakistan, Wang said the combination of digital sales channels, consolidated logistics and technical knowledge-sharing could help businesses explore opportunities in both directions.

He said the park's broader objective was to help local companies build their own brands and reach more customers rather than relying solely on supplying products for established businesses. "For Pakistan, cooperation could extend beyond agricultural trade to food processing, product distribution and online retail.

For Chinese businesses, importing Pakistani specialities could diversify product offerings and create new commercial links between the two markets," he said. As China and Pakistan continue to explore opportunities for economic cooperation, cross-border e-commerce could provide an additional channel for small and medium-sized enterprises to identify partners, test market demand and develop trade in both directions.