ISLAMABAD: Maritime Affairs Minister Junaid Anwar Chaudhry on Saturday said the fish and fisheries product exports exceeded the $500 million mark for the first time in the first eleven months of the current fiscal year, mainly due to the opening of the Russian market.

In a statement, the minister called it a landmark achievement for the maritime sector and the blue economy.

Currently, the minister said 16 Pakistani companies have been authorised to export seafood to Russia.

He was confident that access to Russia could pave the way into other Eurasian Economic Union markets and estimated that annual seafood exports could climb to $800m, with initial exports to Russia alone projected to reach about $300m.

‘Historic high’ driven by new Russian market access

Frozen fish remained the top export category. Other exports, including shrimps, prawns, crabs, sardines, mackerel, flatfish and fish meal, helped broaden the product mix and increase value-added processing.

China remained the largest seafood market, importing nearly 59pc of total seafood exports. Thailand was the second‑largest market, importing mainly Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP)‑processed shrimps and prawns valued at $31.3m. HACCP is a globally recognised food safety management system designed to proactively identify, evaluate, and control potential biological, chemical, and physical hazards throughout the food production process.

Pakistan exports fish and seafood to the UAE, Malaysia, Japan, the EU, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Kuwait and the United States. Pakistan has recently secured a four-year extension for seafood exports to the United States after the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration classified Pakistani fisheries as “comparable” under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

Recently, the minister announced a major infrastructure plan to establish a 100-acre seafood processing and export zone at the Korangi Fisheries Harbour Authority to promote the blue economy and expand the authority’s role in global seafood trade. Estimated at $60-80 million, the project would house 20-25 medium- and large-scale processing units for fish, shrimp, and cephalopods, along with value-addition and export-grade packaging facilities.

The zone will include cold storage and blast-freezing facilities with multi-temperature storage from minus 18 to minus 40 degrees Celsius, ice plants and flake ice stations with a daily production capacity of 50-100 tonnes, he added.

Mr Chaudhry noted that seafood would move via sea, air and land routes, adding that overland corridors to Central Asia offered cost-effective opportunities amid rising demand in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.

Published in Dawn, May 17th, 2026