BEIJING, Aug. 22 (INP): "Pakistani rice exports are likely to cross one million tons within two years with increased demand from the Chinese market," said Badar uz Zaman, Commercial Counselor of Pakistan Embassy in China.

"Last year our rice exports to China was 475,000 tons and in quantity wise we are the 3rd largest country while in amount of money wise we are the 4th largest rice exporter to China," Badar told China Economic Net.

Last year, Vietnam, Myanmar, and Thailand were the top three rice exporters to China, amounting to 787,538 tons, 911,231 tons, and 324,642 tons respectively.

"Rice is the 4th largest export item to China after copper, cotton yarn, and ores", he mentioned.

China had appeared as one of the top destinations for importing Pakistani rice, as reflected in the 59% increase of broken rice in last year, while semi/wholly milled rice and IRRI-6 and IRRI-9 are the main top two rice varieties imported by China amounted to around $259 million last year.

Badar said the number of registered rice exporters has increased to 53 and within the last two years 18 new Pakistani rice companies were registered by the General Administration of Customs P.R. China, which shows the huge demand for Pakistani rice in the Chinese market. These companies fully meet the Chinese standard.

He further said that IRRI-6 and IRRI-9 types of rice have special Chinese consumer taste, while all commercial sections in China are trying B2B marketing to promote all kinds of Pakistani rice types, and also the products of quality are in demand here.

Dr. Amjad Abbas Khan Magsi, Assistant Professor at Punjab University Pakistan, agricultural analyst, and the landlord, said that the area of hybrid rice increased due to huge demand from China, and new hybrid rice varieties are being developed in Punjab and other parts of Pakistan, which would give maximum yield and low costs.

"Hybrid rice gives more profit and easy techniques to cultivate that also helps to save more than 40% irrigation water, while rice crop cycle span is shorter than the major crops," he told CEN.

Experts said that in the last few years, massive investment in the rice industry has been made and due to the popularity of hybrid rice, an enormous quantity of color sorter machines were imported from China to meet the Chinese standard and to capture the world's largest market.

INP/javed