China imports around 51 percent copper from various countries including Pakistan: Wang Zihai

Lahore: Pakistan-China Joint Chambers of Commerce and Industry (PCJCCI) President Wang Zihai has said that China imports around 51 percent of copper from various countries including Pakistan.

“There is a lot more potential in this sector to further enhance trade by introducing contemporary technology and techniques,” he mentioned during a PCJCCI session, held at the Chambers Secretariat.

He maintained that export of copper and other copper-related products from the country could help boost local industry. He remarked that four years back, exports of copper from Pakistan were of only US $ 106 million; however, in the year 2021, copper exports to China had risen to US $ 600 million.

Wang Zihai added that it was to be noted that mining and processing of copper requires a high-end technology and the expertise of Chinese copper processing companies like the Metallurgical Group Corporation (MCC) had played a vital role to develop the Saindak copper mines since 1995 onwards.

He said that Saindak Copper-Gold Project was designed to produce and process 12,800 tons of copper ores per day (4.25 million tons per year); currently, the output of copper blister is about 13,000 tons annually.

On this occasion, PCJCCI Senior Vice President Ehsan Choudhry said that the current rise in exports is seen through the largest copper reserves of Pakistan ‘Reko Diq project’, which is now functional and would prove to be a game-changer for Pakistan.

“If the agreement goes smoothly, then one of the biggest players in the copper industry of China, Metallurgical Corporation of China (MCC) that is mining in Saindak mines, expects to take the export to $10 billion per year,” he stated.

He added that in addition to Reko Diq and Saindak, Chitral region of northern Pakistan is also very rich in copper reserves, but unfortunately, a huge number of mines in that area are not producing due to lack of modern technology.

In his address, PCJCCI Vice President Sarfraz Butt underlined that over the past 19 years of operation, the project had been making steady profits and paid over US $ 468m in taxes, fees and profits to the governments of Pakistan and Balochistan and the owner and created more than 1,900 jobs, procured about of various production and living materials worth US $1.1 billion and contributed to the development of local trade, transportation, logistics and other industries and provided the livelihood to thousands of families in the surrounding areas.

He added: “We should work upon the managerial and technical training of our Pakistani workers to improve their capacity so that they can get more benefits from this project.”

PCJCCI Secretary General Salahuddin Hanif highlighted that there is much more potential in the Reko Dik project similar to that of Saindak Copper Gold Project.

“We hope that our government will conduct international tenders for these projects as soon as possible and are eager to increase the exports of copper to China,” he stated.