December 5, 2006

China grants inspection-free status to ten poultry processors

Ten cooked poultry processors in China have been named as the first group of inspection-free exporters by the country's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ).

The ten, whose products need not be inspected by state authorities before being exported, include Beijing Huadu

and Jilin Deda.

The move would serve to encourage produce exporters to monitor quality and enable them to be more confident and competitive in the international market, announced AQSIQ.

According to the general administration, producers applying for export inspection exemption should be accredited by HACCP and operate their own standard farms. In addition, the applicants must guarantee consistent product quality and must have passed all inspections for three years running. The valid period of an exemption certificate is two years.

Jilin Deda, a joint venture between Charoen Pokphand of Thailand and a local company in north-east China, hopes to export cooked poultry to the EU once its inspection free status has been accorded.

China exported 173,700 tonnes of processed poultry valued at US$543 million during the first nine months of 2006, according to data from the Chinese ministry of agriculture. This is a 13.8 percent increase in weight and 12.3 percent increase in value.

The vast majority of the processed poultry were shipped to Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong.