May 10, 2004
China Vital To British Pig Industry
The opening of the Chinese market is vital to the British pig meat industry with new business from the far east easily worth £15 million a year to the British industry says British Pig Executive (BPEX) Chairman Stewart Houston.
Houston, one of a delegation in a trade mission to Beijing, was trying to convince influential members of the Chinese pig production and pork processing sector, key civil servants and the Chinese trade media that British pork and breeding pigs are of high quality and safe.
According to him, "Opening up the Chinese market is vitally important. Not only is it the largest producer and consumer of pork in the world, it will also act as a catalyst to help us gain entry to other Far Eastern markets.
"This will be of direct benefit to British producers because there is a demand for certain parts of the carcass which have a higher value in South East Asia.
Steward added that they would do all they could to speed the lengthy process of getting export certificates, and that they are working closely with organisations such as Defra.
"However, this is not something that is going to happen overnight as, among other things, Chinese vets will have to visit Britain as part of the certification process.
"We had a great deal of help from a number of people and organisations, including Agriculture Minister Lord Whitty and the China-Britain Business Council which arranged this trade mission."
In addition to meeting representatives of the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture, the delegation also met trade associations.
The mission included a visit to the Shineway Corporation, one of China's largest integrated pork processors.
This follows the appearance of Shineway President Wan Long at the World Pork Congress, organised by BPEX, in Birmingham last year.
The pig industry in China comprises 37.8 million sows producing 45 million tonnes of pork. The population of 1.3 billion people consumes approximately 32 kg pig meat per capita annually.
