Chinese Goods dominate Swat’s Mingora Bazaar
Mehmood Khan China Plaza Mingora, Swat. [Photo by Tahir Ali/CEN]
by Tahir Ali
MINGORA, SWAT, Dec.11 (China Economic Net) - If you are looking for a variety of Chinese goods in northwestern Pakistan, the Mingora bazaar in the Swat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) is the right place for you. From clothing, footwear, baby toys, watches, cellphones, and their parts to electrical equipment, Mingora’s markets are flooded with quality Chinese goods.
Chinese products recently occupied global markets, trade relations between the people of Swat and the Chinese province of Xinjiang are centuries old as a result of cultural ties.
“The people of Swat valley and Xinjiang have centuries-old cultural and business ties; geographically they are not far from each other, as only Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) lies between them,” Shaukat Sharar, Swat-based architect and historian told China Economic Net (CEN). He said that the people of Swat would traditionally travel through GB to Xinjiang in China to bring goods. According to him, some people from both the regions had also entered into marital relations and “there is still some Pashtun population in Xinjiang”.
Shaukat Sharar said that with the construction of roads, small businesses grew and traders started using road and sea freights to transport their business goods from China. “The modern era of business began in the early 1990s, when Chinese goods started finding their niches in the Mingora bazaar,” Shaukat Sharar said. To acquire Chinese goods, people from the entire Malakand division (comprising nine districts) and other parts of the country started visiting Mingora Bazaar.
Currently, Mingora Bazaar is home to a number of markets and shops selling Chinese products. Popular markets dealing in Chinese goods in Mingora city, include Swat China Market, Pak-China Market, Mehmood Khan China Market, Shanghai Cloth Market, and Abaseen Plaza, etc. There are hundreds of shops and street vendors in Mingora city selling Chinese products. The majority of the shopkeepers use the suffix or affix of the word “China” while naming their businesses, e.g. “Pak-China Cloth Centre”, “Insaf-China General Store”, “China Traders”, “China Toys Center”, and “China Hosiery Store”.
Riaz Ahmed is a trader in Mingora city who runs his business over Kanju Road and sells umbrellas. He started his business in 1992 and to become a successful trader, he learned the basics of the Chinese language as well. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, he has not visited China since early 2020. “Earlier, groups of traders from Swat would regularly visit China to buy goods but now we place orders over the phone and receive goods via cargo service,” he told CEN, adding that due to coronavirus, business activities have reduced by almost 40%.
According to Riaz Ahmad, the majority of traders from Swat import goods from Kashgar (Xinjiang), Hangzhou, Yiwu (Zhejiang), and Guangzhou cities. Until 2002-03, the traders of Swat would use only land routes to import Chinese goods. Every year, the land route remained closed from December 25 to April 1, due to the snowfall in the region. As the market grew, instead of waiting for the land route to reopen, local traders started visiting China by air while they sent their business items via sea routes.
Initially, Riaz Ahmed would bring different crockeries. Later he switched his business to umbrella only because it is more lucrative—he is a wholesaler and provides umbrellas to shopkeepers in Swat and beyond. “The demand for umbrellas is high these days, as there are no umbrella manufacturers in Pakistan. All umbrellas are imported from China,” he told CEN.
Riaz Ahmed runs Chinese umbrella business in Mingora City, Swat. [Photo by Tahir Ali/CEN]
Muhammad Ali, age 68, is one of those shopkeepers who started visiting China by land route in 1989-90. First, a hi-ace (van) would take them to Gilgit from Swat; from Gilgit, they would travel to Sost in small vehicles followed by their journey to Khunjerab Pass (border crossing between China and Pakistan). In the final phase, from Khunjerab, they would travel to Kashgar. “I would buy white silk in Kashgar that would give me a handsome return in Mingora bazaar,” he told CEN. Currently, Muhammad Ali is one of the 15 wholesalers in Mingora city who deal in jackets. “Now we go to China by air and import goods via cargo service either by land or by sea,” he said.
Many wholesalers in Mingora city provide Chinese products to shopkeepers from Peshawar, Mardan, Charsadda, and other cities of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Adnan Ali, a senior official of the Swat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) told CEN that thousands of people in Swat valley earn their livelihood in trading Chinese goods. According to him, around 800 shops are selling Chinese products in Mingora city. At least 3,000 people are directly involved in these businesses while thousands of others indirectly earn from the business of importing and selling Chinese products.
The city of Mingora is home to over 250 shops selling Chinese textile fabrics. [Photo by Tahir Ali/CEN]
According to Adnan Ali, the number of shops dealing in Chinese textile cloth is high in Mingora city. The other shops sell hosieries, toys, shoes, leather products, crockeries, umbrellas, electronic devices, home appliances, mobile parts, watches, etc.
Adnan Ali himself runs a cargo service. He has offices in Mingora and Yiwu city of Zhejiang province as well. “Around 300 businessmen from Swat go directly to China for business purposes while many others place orders via phone and receive their products via cargo service,” he said.
Mingora city attracts customers from all around KP and from Punjab province as well. “Here we find a variety of products while prices are comparatively cheaper,” Shahida Bibi told CEN. She had come to Swat China Market from Lower Dir district. She is buying hosieries and shoes for her children at the arrival of winter.
Saleem Rehman traveled 108 kilometers from Mardan city in KP to buy baby toys for his shop from Mehmood Khan China Market in Mingora. “Whenever I come, I find something new here; as kids demand new toys every time, have to meet their demands,” he told CEN.
Shanghai Cloth Market, Mingora City. [Photo by Tahir Ali/CEN]
The business community of Mingora demands the Government of Pakistan to start direct flights from Kabal Airport Swat to China to reduce travel expenses and time. “If we have direct flights from Kabal to Yiwu, Zhejiang, the traveling time would be reduced to less than an hour,” according to Adnan Ali. Shopkeepers dealing in Chinese products do not have a union and lack a proper platform to address their issues with the Government. They clear all taxes and duties when they import goods from China via sea route. However, according to Adnan Ali, as the containers bring their goods from Karachi to Mingora, despite all taxes and duties they paid, the customs officials of the district of Mardan and Nowshera in KP would confiscate their goods. “If they repay duties and taxes, only then they are allowed to go,” he said. This needs to be looked into so that trade between Pakistan and China can further flourish.
