Pakistani, Chinese firms sign food deal at China Import Expo

A Chinese snack company signed a deal with Pakistan pine nut provider worth 300 million yuan (US $ 42 million) during the second China International Import Expo in Shanghai as the company furthers overseas efforts with opportunities brought by the Belt and Road Initiative.

With the new move, Halo Foods, Pakistan's largest pine nut purchase and processing firm will continue to offer pine nuts to the Chinese firm, Bestore following their cooperation for over ten years, according to the Chinese media here on Thursday.

Hand-peeled pine nuts is now one of the most expensive nut products for our company, but both demand and output has grown rapidly with an annual increase of 20 percent, according to Yang Yinfen, CEO and president of Bestore.

"For Halo Foods, such cooperation will help the Pakistan firm to further explore the potential of the Chinese market," said Shahbaz Siddique, financial head of Halo Foods.

"Globalization has been one of our key strengths. Currently, over 25 percent of our raw material comes from overseas," Yang said. Among overseas purchases, Belt and Road economies including Malaysia and the Philippines as well as Turkey are some of the major sources.

"We are also considering and exploring some emerging markets, such as the African market," Yang revealed. An earlier report pointed out that Chinese people consume around two trillion yuan of snack food every year following the country's booming internet wave accelerating the growth.

To date, the Wuhan-based company in Hubei province has adopted 190 types of raw materials from 32 countries and regions. It has developed over 1,000 kinds of snacks so far. Over 35 Pakistani companies will participate and showcase their products including top textile, leather and sports goods, surgical equipment, home furnishing and other products at the 2nd China International Import Expo (CIIE) scheduled to be held in Shanghai from November 5 to 10.

Advisor on Commerce,

Textile, Industry and Production and Investment, Abdul Razak Dawood will lead the Pakistani delegation. Pakistan's top business executives will attend.

It may be mentioned here that a number of top export-oriented Pakistani companies are exhibiting textile, leather and sports goods, surgical equipment, home furnishing and other products at their stalls set up at the expo in an effort to enhance exports to China.

Meanwhile, Asian markets mostly fell Thursday after investors were spooked by speculation the much-anticipated signing of the China-US trade pact could be delayed. Broad-based optimism that the economic superpowers would soon complete part one of a wider agreement has been the basis of a rally in global equities for several weeks.

But that confidence was given a slight jolt Wednesday by reports that a planned meeting between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping to put pen to paper may be put back to December as they iron out some issues and try to find a place to hold the ceremony.

A day earlier, the Financial Times and Wall Street Journal had said the White House was considering dropping existing tariffs on more than $100 billion of imports to seal an agreement.

While officials said the deal is still on track, a seed of doubt was planted in the minds of nervous traders, who have witnessed several false dawns in the past. "One could take the view that by not committing to meet the original deadline for signing the so-called phase one agreement... it gives more time for a somewhat more comprehensive agreement to be thrashed out -- potentially involving a US commitment to wind back some existing tariffs," said National Australia Bank's Ray Attrill.