Pakistan emerges as new donkey supplier to China: report

Pakistan is emerging as a new supplier of donkeys to China, as growing demand for donkey hides used in the traditional Chinese medicine ejiao opens a niche export market for the country, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday. The expansion comes as Chinese demand for donkey hides grows while domestic supplies decline. The hides are used to produce ejiao, a collagen-rich gelatin made by boiling donkey skin and widely used in traditional Chinese medicine. As per Bloomberg, China’s ejiao market was valued at around $7.8 billion in 2021, according to a 2023 US Congressional Research Service report, which estimated that 2.3 million to 4.8 million donkeys are slaughtered annually worldwide for their hides. With the donkey population dwindling in China, the world’s second-largest economy has prompted buyers to seek supplies from overseas markets, including Pakistan, Brazil and Australia. Pakistan has an estimated donkey population exceeding six million, and China is a significant market, using donkey meat in cuisine and for Ejiao, a traditional Chinese medicine gelatin. The South Asian country has been preparing to export donkey meat and hides to China, a process that has involved several years o