Barter trade with China on the rise

BEIJING: Pakistani enterprises joined the Cross-border Barter Trade Alliance at the inaugural ceremony of Cross-border Barter Trade Alliance (CBTA) and the Cross-border Barter Trade Platform held at China's coastal city of Qingdao to boost barter trade with more countries.

Barter is typically known as trading one good or service by one party in return for another good or service from another party without the use of money.

The general administration of Customs of China estimates that the total volume of bartering transactions surpassed $130 billion in 2020.According to the International Reciprocal Trade Association (IRTA), a global organisation for barter trade, an estimated 65 percent to 80 percent of Fortune 500 enterprises have been reported to engage in some form of bartering, and 65 percent of corporations listed on the NYSE are involved in bartering.

In a similar vein, barter trade also plays a role in Pakistan.Pakistan has exported the surplus wheat and rice to Iran in exchange for sought-after fertiliser and iron ore.

Barter trade between Pakistan and China also holds great promises.

"Pakistan is rich in natural resources such as minerals. The country can trade marbles for other goods with China," said Shao Liying, who conducted business operations in Pakistan for four years before setting up an O2O barter platform in China.

Wang Hui, secretary general of CBTA, says that the cross-border barter trade platform will tackle the ingrained problems of mismatched information, inadequate laws and regulations, and unregulated evaluation of goods and services and further grow barter trade among its current 92 member enterprises from 11 countries and regions including China, Pakistan, Germany, India and Nigeria.