Himalayan rock salt and lamps showcased by Pakistani traders at the 4th China International Import Expo (CIIE) held in Shanghai attracted a big number of Chinese consumers. “You see, I have sold four batches in such a few days. On November 6th alone, more than 50 salt lamps were sold to customers”, Mian Muhammad Zubair in charge of the Pak Persian salt lake booth told China Economic Net (CEN) excitedly in fluent Chinese at the expo. It has been the second time that CEN journalists paid a visit to the booth. Unlike last time, many salt lamps on the shelves have been labelled as “booked”, even the costly large one on the ground has been reserved for some generous clients. The salt for these lamps is exploited from the Khewra Salt Mine, Punjab, which is also the world’s leading producer of Himalayan pink salt. As the second-largest salt deposit in the world, the Khewra mine is estimated to have more than one billion tons of salt in store. Since mining started in 1838, more than 350,000 tons of rock salt with a purity of 98pc have been produced annually. After being made into a wide range of products such as edible pink salt, salt lamps, bath salts, salt bricks, etc, they are exported to China, Britain, the United States and many other countries, making a name all over the world. According to Chinese customs, China imported RMB 12.2 million (Rs33 crore) worth of Himalayan rock salt in the first half of 2020. In addition to some packaged brand products imported from the United States, more than 90pc of China’s imported Himalayan rock salt are from Pakistan. “There is pink, black, and white salt in Pakistan. Black salt lamps are rare, but pink ones are more popular in China”, said Zubair. According to him, this is the first time for black salt lamps to appear at CIIE. The Himalayan salt lamp is a chased-after product in the world’s second largest consumer market. Within five minutes of the journalists’ stopover at the Pak Persian booth, at least three Chinese buyers inquired and bought the salt lamps. “We plan to place it in the living room. Later we might transform one of the rooms into a salt room. We can also use the salt for bath”, said a Chinese buyer in the massive health industry. Apart from salt lamps, pink salt is even more popular in the Chinese market. “Himalayan pink salt with Pakistan as its main country of origin is our feature product for CIIE this year”, revealed Zhou Wenqi, project director of Zhongbai Investment Group Co. Ltd. Pakistani pink salt distinguishes itself with the marble-like appearance and colour, as well as the processing and production technology. In addition, people’s admiration towards the Himalayas adds to their appeal. “We have decades of experience in selling salt. We started selling Chinese domestic salt and then imported Australian sea salt. With the increase of sea salt products in the Chinese market, mineral salt and deep mountain salt are becoming more and more accepted in China, especially in the coastal areas,” said Zhou. “Iodine is commonly added to salt in China. People in coastal areas have a higher intake of iodine, and eating iodized salt is likely to cause hyperthyroidism among them, so they need to eat iodine-free salt,” a professional buyer from Tianjin said that he started eating Himalayan pink salt in 2016.