Shaheer Ahmed
Sialkot makes a considerable contribution to Pakistan’s annual export total. The city is well known throughout the world for its high-end sporting goods, leather clothes, and medical equipment. The Sialkot Business and Commerce Centre (SBCC) estimates that the city’s export sector directly or indirectly employs about 400,000 people and generates $2 billion in yearly revenue for the country.
The majority of Pakistani sellers on the Chinese global marketplace are based in Sialkot, according to Muhammad Sadiq, the manager of business growth for Sellers on Alibaba Pakistan. Sadiq said that 85% of all vendors in Pakistan are based in Sialkot during a summit of Alibaba’s merchants.
Additionally, there are approximately 3.2 million postings from Pakistani sellers on Alibaba. The category of apparel and accessories has 63 percent of all listings. The remaining listings are divided into the tools, hardware, and mineral categories, as well as the sports, entertainment, health, and medical ones.
At the summit multiple prospects were highlighted by speakers from Alibaba.com for exporters, manufacturers, wholesalers, merchants, and retailers in Karachi to connect with the global platform’s digital B2B buyer base. There were about 700 registrations for the summit.
Muhammad Sadiq He lamented the fact that only 3.3pc of the total Pakistani exporters on Alibaba.com are from Karachi. “These dynamics should change. I invite all exporters from Karachi to embrace the export e-commerce route,” he said.
“Pakistan has now become our top overseas supplier market in terms of the number of paying suppliers,” he said, encouraging the local businesses to grow beyond their home market and “get discovered by more than 40m-strong global online buyer community on Alibaba.com”.
