China opens new seafood supply line through port in Pakistan

A Chinese seafood distributor is tapping into demand for seafood in western China and central Asia by leveraging a Chinese-funded port in Pakistan. 

Based in Karamay city in northwestern China, Yufei Guoji Fishery Ltd. brings “wild, undomesticated” seafood caught in the Indian Ocean and landed at a Pakistani port northwards overland into China. A recent Yufei Guoji sales event featured Norwegian cod and salmon, as well as Indian crab and grouper, displayed in ice in the desert heat of Karamay, which is located on the edge of the Taklimakan desert. 

Some of Yufei’s stock comes via a two-day drive from Pakistan. After investing significant sums in its renovation, China now runs the port of Gwadar, a warm-water, deep-sea port situated on the Arabian Sea in Balochistan Province, Pakistan. Located near Pakistan’s border with Iran, the port – which has featured prominently in Chinese propaganda and state media – is part of the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) plan, and a link in the ambitious “One Belt, One Road” and Maritime Silk Road blueprint that is spearheading Chinese trade through new infrastructure. Ultimately, the port could see product from India, Iran, and the Gulf states headed overland into China.