# Pakistan Collects Record 15 Billion Rupees at the Khunjerab Pass as Tariffs Redraw Asian Trade Routes

Customs revenue from Chinese imports through the high-altitude crossing rose to 15 billion rupees in the 2025-26 fiscal year, while Indian exporters face American scrutiny over goods routed through third countries.

- Published: 2026-08-23T05:11:27.014Z
- Canonical: https://polylog.news/2026-08-23/pakistan-collects-record-15-billion-rupees-at-the-khunjerab
- Publisher: Polylog (Global desk)
- Section: macro
- Sources: [Dawn](https://www.dawn.com/news/2024694/khunjerab-pass-generates-record-rs15-billion-in-customs-revenue), [The Hindu](https://www.thehindu.com/business/transshipment-scam-or-efficient-supply-chain-how-us-firms-turn-it-into-profit/article71374582.ece)

Pakistan Customs collected 15 billion rupees on imports from China through the Khunjerab Pass in the 2025-26 fiscal year, [a rise from prior years](https://www.dawn.com/news/2024694/khunjerab-pass-generates-record-rs15-billion-in-customs-revenue) for the crossing, while goods worth 2.8 billion rupees moved outward to China and Central Asia. Khunjerab sits above 4,600 metres and handles a small fraction of Pakistan's total trade, which makes the revenue jump a statement about direction rather than volume.

The same tariff environment is producing a dispute over Indian exports. [The Hindu](https://www.thehindu.com/business/transshipment-scam-or-efficient-supply-chain-how-us-firms-turn-it-into-profit/article71374582.ece) examined American claims that Chinese goods are being relabelled in India to avoid duties, and reported that trade data and industry sources show little Chinese ownership of the pumps and components that India-based companies ship to the United States. In several cases the beneficiaries of the arrangement are American firms that own the Indian suppliers.

Both stories describe the same mechanism. When one border becomes expensive, cargo finds another, and the transit country collects the fee. Overland Eurasian routes and third-country assembly are the two main answers available to exporters that cannot absorb a tariff, and neither reduces the underlying cost. They redistribute it, and they add handling steps that were not economic before the duties existed.

## What this means

Tariffs create rents for whoever controls an alternative route, which is why a mountain pass with modest throughput can post a large jump in customs receipts. The cost shows up as longer transit times and more intermediaries in the price of the finished good, and the gainers are transit states and logistics operators rather than producers or consumers. American importers using Indian assembly face the risk that Washington reclassifies the practice as evasion, which would strand contracts already signed.

## What to watch

- Whether United States customs authorities open formal transshipment cases against India-based suppliers, which would test the data showing little Chinese ownership.
- Volume growth at Khunjerab and other China-Pakistan crossings once winter closures end, to see whether the revenue increase reflects durable rerouting or a one-off pricing effect.