Chinese meat giant seals deal with NZ firms
 

 

The deal is the first agricultural contract to emerge from the free trade agreement with China and was confirmed during last month's Chinese delegation to New Zealand.

 

New Zealand food logistics companies FoodCap International and angus genetics specialists Te Mania Livestock signed a co-operation agreement with Kerchin Cattle Wednesday (Jul 7) in Beijing. Prime Minister John Key and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao attended the signing.

 

The agreement opens the way to establishing FoodCap distribution plants in key strategic parts of China, improving the beef breeding stock in Inner Mongolia and growing substantial high-end markets for a wide range of New Zealand beef and other meat products, the companies said.

 

FoodCap is controlled by the Palmer family, headed by Roger Palmer, and one of its directors is Te Mania principal Tim Wilding, of Parnassus, North Canterbury, whose own business has Chinese shareholders, Hong Wei Guo of Beijing, and Chun Win Wong, of Singapore.

 

Palmer's FoodCap meat packaging system - which can link storage, aging, transport and handling to ensure that angus beef reaches the supermarket in peak condition - attracted strong interest from Kerchin, which wants to develop both its food safety systems and its animal husbandry.

 

Auckland-based FoodCap has created handling systems for fresh chilled food and other temperature-sensitive, short shelf-life products, which can take perishable retail-ready packs of food all the way from the processing plant to the retail display.

 

The patented technology not only offers food safety, security, and traceability, but reduced handling and packaging costs and improved environmental impact.

 

Te Mania has more than 2000 registered angus cows and is Australasia's largest registered angus seed stock producer, supplying genetics worldwide, including an initial joint venture in China in 1996.