Pakistan Sesame Export: Building a Value-Added Industry

Explore how Pakistan can strengthen sesame export through better quality, traceability, market diversification, and farm productivity. Investment in sesame oil and other value-added sesame seeds products can boost export earnings, create rural jobs, and improve farmers’ livelihoods.

POLICY BRIEFS

Khadija Yasen & Abdul Ghafoor

10/26/2026

A hand grenade shaped like a cluster of red chili peppers exploding outward

Pakistan’s sesame sector is enjoying a remarkable export boom. Between January and July 2026, the country exported 103,340 tonnes of sesame seed to China, worth approximately US$105 million. This represented a 111 per cent increase in export volume and a 72 per cent rise in value compared with the corresponding period a year earlier. Once considered a relatively minor crop, sesame has emerged as a dynamic contributor to Pakistan’s agricultural exports, creating new opportunities for farmers, traders, and exporters.

However, these impressive figures conceal a strategic challenge. Much of the sector’s recent expansion has been driven by improved market access, particularly preferential tariff treatment in China, and a substantial increase in cultivated area. Although these factors have stimulated production and exports, they cannot guarantee sustained competitiveness. Preferential trade arrangements may change, while the availability of suitable agricultural land is inherently limited. Pakistan must therefore look beyond expanding production volumes and focus on improving the value generated from each tonne of sesame.

The sector has already demonstrated considerable progress. Traditionally concentrated in northern Punjab, sesame cultivation has spread across the Potohar Plateau and into eastern, western, and southern Punjab. Between 2019 and 2024, the reported cultivated area increased from 139,000 hectares to nearly 400,000 hectares, while average yields rose from 442 to 750 kilograms per hectare. These gains reflect farmers’ responsiveness to market opportunities and the emergence of a more organized supply chain involving aggregators, cleaning facilities, and exporters.

Nevertheless, expanding cultivation and improving yields represent only the beginning of a sustainable export strategy. Greater production does not automatically translate into higher profitability, stronger market access, or greater resilience to international competition. Pakistan must strengthen seed quality, improve post-harvest handling, reduce contamination, and establish reliable grading and traceability systems. Investment in modern processing, quality certification, and value-added sesame products could also help exporters capture a larger share of the final market value.

The next phase of growth must therefore be driven by productivity, quality, processing, and market diversification rather than land expansion alone. A coordinated national sesame strategy, linking research institutions, farmers, processors, exporters, and policymakers, would provide a stronger foundation for long-term development. Pakistan has demonstrated that it can expand sesame production rapidly; the challenge now is to convert this momentum into durable competitiveness and higher returns across the value chain.

Three Structural Vulnerabilities Limiting Pakistan’s Sesame Sector

Despite its impressive export growth, Pakistan’s sesame sector faces three structural weaknesses that could undermine its long-term competitiveness. Addressing these challenges is essential to transform recent export gains into sustainable economic opportunities for farmers, processors, and exporters.

The first vulnerability is market concentration. According to the government’s 2024 assessment, approximately 80 per cent of Pakistan’s sesame exports were destined for China. While strong demand from this market has supported rapid expansion, excessive dependence on a single buyer exposes the sector to changes in import policies, consumer preferences, quality requirements, and international competition. Developing alternative markets in the Middle East, Europe, and other Asian countries would reduce this exposure and strengthen exporters’ bargaining power.

The second weakness is geographic concentration. During 2023–24, Punjab accounted for approximately 95 per cent of national sesame production. Although the province offers suitable growing conditions and an established agricultural supply chain, such concentration creates risks from localized droughts, flooding, disease outbreaks, and other production shocks. Expanding cultivation into suitable areas of other provinces, supported by region-specific research, improved seed varieties, and effective extension services, could strengthen national supply resilience. Expansion, however, must be guided by agroecological suitability and sustainable resource management rather than acreage targets alone.

The third and perhaps most significant weakness is the sector’s limited value addition. In 2024, Pakistan reportedly exported only about 25.7 tonnes of sesame seed oil, valued at approximately US$228,000. Compared with raw sesame exports, this represents a very small processing base. Basic cleaning and grading improve marketability, but substantial opportunities remain in hulling, oil extraction, refining, tahini production, and branded food products. Developing these activities domestically could create skilled employment, diversify export earnings, and allow Pakistani businesses to capture a greater share of the value generated along the supply chain.

Together, these weaknesses reveal the difference between supply-side and strategic competitiveness. Pakistan has demonstrated its capacity to produce and export sesame at scale when market conditions are favourable. Lasting competitiveness, however, requires diversified markets, geographically resilient production, consistent quality, and stronger domestic processing. Without these changes, export growth may remain vulnerable to external shocks and limited value capture. The next phase must therefore prioritize resilience and value creation alongside production expansion.

A National Framework for Sustainable Sesame Export Competitiveness

Pakistan’s sesame sector needs a coordinated strategy that moves beyond expanding production and strengthens competitiveness across the entire value chain. Five mutually reinforcing priorities can help achieve this transformation.

First, a national quality assurance and traceability system should establish clear standards for seed purity, moisture content, pesticide residues, and food safety. Accredited testing laboratories, farm-to-port traceability, and certification of exporters would improve consistency, protect Pakistan’s reputation in China, and facilitate entry into more demanding international markets.

Second, export destinations must diversify without weakening established trade relations with China. Targeted trade promotion, buyer-seller meetings, and market intelligence could help exporters develop opportunities across East Asia, the Middle East, Central Asia, and Europe. Reducing excessive dependence on a single destination would make the sector more resilient to changing trade policies and market conditions.

Third, domestic processing offers substantial potential for value creation. Investment in sesame oil extraction, refining, hulling, and paste production could generate employment and increase export earnings. Long-term credit, predictable machinery import policies, appropriate food safety regulations, and export promotion should support commercially viable processing enterprises. Public incentives should prioritize investment that develops domestic capabilities and creates measurable economic value.

Fourth, future growth must increasingly come from higher farm productivity rather than continued acreage expansion. Improved seed varieties, better soil and water management, appropriate mechanization, reduced harvesting and shattering losses, and effective extension services can strengthen yields and production resilience. Cultivation in areas such as Malakand, Mardan, and Hazara should be encouraged where agroecological conditions are suitable and market access is viable.

Finally, farmers must receive fair returns for their contribution. Timely price information, transparent grading, stronger producer organizations, contract farming arrangements, and warehouse receipt financing could improve growers’ bargaining power and access to credit. Better coordination between farmers, processors, and exporters would also encourage consistent quality and reliable supplies.

These priorities require collaboration among federal and provincial governments, research institutions, financial organizations, farmers, and private businesses. Pakistan’s objective should be to build a sesame industry that combines reliable quality, diversified markets, domestic value addition, productive farming, and equitable returns. Sustainable export competitiveness will depend not simply on selling more sesame, but on creating greater value throughout the supply chain while ensuring that farmers share in the resulting gains.