China plans to import potatoes from Pakistan, said Ambassador Yao Jing on Friday.
The envoy in a meeting with Minister for National Food Security and Research Sahibzada Mehboob Sultan said his country will shortly send a delegation to Islamabad to finalise arrangements and fulfilling the requirements for sanitary and phytosanitary measures.
He said that Beijing wants to import more from Pakistan, especially food items such as cherries, potato, wheat, citrus, rice and mangoes. China wants to build stronger socio-economic ties with Pakistan on the basis of reciprocity, he added.
Pakistan’s annual potato production currently stands at around 4.2 million tonnes with a domestic requirement of 3.75m tonnes – leaving a sizable surplus. About 97 per cent of potatoes is grown in Punjab while the rest in other provinces.
The fresh crop of potato, which hit the local market in early December 2018, will be ready for export by the end of January.
