China's taste for an exotic meat and a prized collagen is helping seed an unusual business hundreds of kilometres away in Pakistan's arid southwest, reports Bloomberg. A slaughterhouse in Pakistan's Balochistan province is processing hundreds of donkeys for customers in the world's second-biggest economy. While the meat isn't consumed locally because of religious beliefs, it is considered a delicacy in parts of China. But more importantly, the hides are used to make ejiao, a highly valued ingredient in traditional Chinese medicine.
Hangeng Group, which runs the abattoir and processing plants near Gwadar, is betting on growing overseas demand to quadruple daily slaughter to 800 donkeys within months. "There is massive potential for the donkey meat and hide industry," Pakistan's food minister Rana Tanveer Hussain told Bloomberg News in an interview in Islamabad. "This is why we have given permission to 2-3 more Chinese companies to set up breeding farms and slaughterhouses in Gwadar." The business could generate about $5 million a month in foreign-exchange earnings within six months, rising to $7 million within two years, Chief Executive Officer Andy Liao said in an interview in Islamabad.
That's still a fraction of the estimated 2.3 million to 4.8 million donkeys slaughtered annually for their hides to make ejiao, according to a 2023 US Congressional Research Service report, which pegged the Chinese market for the traditional medicine at about $7.8 billion in 2021. Ejiao is made from collagen extracted by boiling donkey skin. It is commonly used as a blood tonic to treat anemia, as well as to boost immunity and improve sleep. It is also used in cosmetics and is believed to have anti-ageing benefits.
Demand for the gelatin compound is booming in China, but the supply of donkey hides needed to make it is dwindling. China's donkey population has plunged as millions of the animals are slaughtered each year, driving buyers to seek supplies from Africa and elsewhere. In 2024, the African Union endorsed a continent-wide moratorium on the slaughter of donkeys for their skins and related exports after an alarming decline in their population. In a June 2025 report, animal welfare organization Brooke estimated that Africa's donkey population could halve to about 14 million by 2040, if the continent-wide ban on the donkey skin trade isn't enforced. Chinese buyers are now seeking newer sources, including Pakistan, Brazil and Australia.
The Islamic Republic had also previously restricted donkey hide exports after authorities found the animal's meat was being passed off as beef and mutton in some cities. However, the moratorium was lifted a decade later, according to a commerce ministry notification, opening the way for the country to tap into China's growing demand. The donkey population in the South Asian nation is growing and exceeded 6 million in 2025, according to the Pakistan Economic Survey, giving entrepreneurs such as Liao an opportunity to build the industry around an animal that has traditionally been used for transport and farm work. Liao's company started building the Pakistan facility six years ago and has invested about $50 million so far. It employs nine Chinese managers and roughly 500 local workers, who handle everything from slaughter and packaging to transport. The company briefly halted operations in May, citing bureaucratic hurdles, before resuming business after government approvals.