Pakistan has exported donkey meat to China for the first time, with the inaugural shipment produced in the Gwadar Free Zone successfully clearing customs at Tianjin Port and entering the Chinese market.
The Chinese investor behind the project, Hengeng Trading Enterprise, described the shipment as the first food product manufactured in the Gwadar Free Zone to reach China. The company credited the Ministry of National Food Security and Research, the CPEC Authority, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal for supporting the initiative.
The export follows the completion of regulatory requirements between the two countries. Pakistan and China finalized export protocols for donkey meat and hides in 2024, after which Pakistan amended its export policy to permit shipments from approved slaughterhouses operating in the Gwadar Free Zone.
Hengeng later secured the necessary quarantine and customs approvals from Pakistani authorities and China’s General Administration of Customs before commercial exports began.
The company has invested $50 million in a slaughterhouse located in the Gwadar North Free Zone, where donkey meat and hides are processed for export under the second phase of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
China is among the world’s largest importers of donkey meat and hides, which are widely used in food products and in the production of Ejiao, a traditional medicine made from donkey hide.
Officials believe the project will help expand Pakistan’s livestock exports, attract foreign investment and create jobs in the Gwadar region.
