BEIJING: Pakistan’s export of rice to China crossed $277.56 million in the first five months of Financial Year 2021-2022, up 9.73 percent year-on-year bases. Pakistan remained one of the major broken rice suppliers to China, according to the official data from the General Administration of Customs of the People’s Republic of China (GACC). Badar uz Zaman, Commercial Counselor of the Pakistani Embassy in Beijing, said that currently broken rice, especially IRRI-6, IRRI-9, and semi or wholly milled rice were the main varieties of rice exported to China while Basmati and other top varieties still need to work hard to capture the Chinese market. “Last year, China imported 973,000 tons of rice worth $437 million from Pakistan. Seven new Pakistan rice exporters have been added to the approved list, which has risen to 53 in 2021. China relaxed import restrictions on Pakistani rice which helped rice export to China”, Badar mentioned. He believes that within a few years Pakistan will become the largest rice exporter to China, CEN reported. In the first five months, broken rice, commodity code (10064080), crossed about $42 million, an increase of nearly 865.26% as compared with last year, which was $4.32 million. Semi or wholly milled rice, commodity code (10063020), reached $132 million, according to GACC data received by Pakistan. Badar Uz Zaman said that Pakistan was using traditional and especially social media platforms here to create awareness about Pakistani rice in the Chinese market.