December 17, 2019

 

Alltech highlights positivity in China's role in the global food system

 

 

China's robust development and wider opening up have been creating massive opportunities for foreign businesses, a senior executive of US-based Alltech told Xinhua in an interview.

 

"It would probably be our biggest opportunity because we still have a lot of growth there," said Brian McCawley, senior vice president of sales at Alltech, referring to the company's business ambition in the Chinese market.

 

The company set up its Chinese subsidiary in 1994, a relatively early time for foreign enterprises seeking to establish their presence in China.

 

"When we think back to 1994, China was very different than it is today," said McCawley, adding the feed market was "really small" at that time.

 

China has been consistently ranked as the world's biggest producer of animal feed, according to consecutive annual surveys by the company.

 

The 2019 Alltech Global Feed Survey showed China maintained top spot as the largest feed-producing country in the world at 187.89 million tonnes.

 

"It's been a tremendous transformation for China, and China should be very proud of what they've done with their agricultural industry," added McCawley, who has spent years working and living in China.

 

"The whole industry is transformed because of the amount of people we have in China who are now able to afford a basic protein every day," he said.

 

McCawley believes that mutual benefits from the market will endure.

 

"When you look at feed indexes around the world, a big part of it is population," explained McCawley, noting China's fast-growing middle-income class, meaning improving ability to consume daily protein.

 

According to latest statistics, China has a population of nearly 1.4 billion and a middle-income population of over 400 million.

 

Referring to sound, cross-border business cooperation at the country level, McCawley believes that is "in everybody's best interest going forward."

 

The company had sponsored the Fifth US-China Governors' Collaboration Summit held in late May in Kentucky, where hundreds of governors, mayors and businesspeople from both countries gathered to discuss the future of US-China relations and the opportunities for further cooperation (/contents/06-04-2019/f777dd77-85d0-4c98-af83-c6774ccd8103-a181.html).

 

"It's critical to our business that we have a strong presence in China, working closely with the country's agri-food sector," said Alltech, adding that collaboration with China "will impact the entire global food system."