Qingfa Hesheng says Chinese rice seeds hold 90% Pakistan share

Wuhan Qingfa Hesheng Agricultural Development Co. said Chinese seeds now exceed 90% of Pakistan’s hybrid rice seed market, Xinhua reported on Oct. 12.

The figure matters for agribusiness executives because Pakistan is now described by Xinhua as the world’s fourth-largest rice exporter, while the report gave no revenue, volume or independent market data.

Xinhua traced the company’s Pakistan business to 2003, when Zhu Xiaobo, now Qingfa Hesheng’s general manager, brought hybrid rice seeds from Wuhan and found a partner in Lahore businessman Tahar Salimi. Zhu told Xinhua that the first crop delivered yields 40% to 50% above many local varieties.

The partnership later registered QY0413, described in the report as Pakistan’s first commercialized hybrid rice variety. Xinhua said the result drew more Chinese seed companies into the market and that hundreds of thousands of farmers increased incomes, attributing the broader market-share figure to Zhu.

Qingfa Hesheng expanded from seed sales into field support in 2010, sending staff to Pakistan to train farmers on seed soaking, pest control and other techniques. “Selling seeds is not enough,” Su Zhongxiang, a company staff member and former agricultural research official in Hubei, told Xinhua. “We should also provide after-sales services, going directly into farmers’ fields and solving problems.”

The company also pursued rapeseed from 2007 to reduce Pakistan’s dependence on imported cooking oil, much of it palm oil from Southeast Asia, according to Xinhua. Zhu said warmer local conditions made adaptation difficult, and the company registered a new rapeseed variety in 2019 after more than a decade of trials.

The report was published as China and Pakistan mark 75 years of diplomatic relations, giving Beijing a business-development example in a strategic partner. The commercial claims remain limited by the available sourcing: Xinhua did not provide financial results, third-party seed-market data or Pakistan government confirmation.

Source: Xinhua report carried by China National News, Oct. 12