U.S. dairy gains more access to China
The U.S. and Chinese governments have reached an agreement that will increase access to Chinese markets for U.S. dairy processors who have been blocked from those markets since 2014.
In May of that year, the Chinese government implemented a new food-safety regulation spanning multiple food categories. Among other things, it required a nation to certify and register dairy facilities that want to ship to China and assure they meet Chinese standards.
The MOU between the FDA and the Chinese government formalizes a registration procedure in which third-party certifiers, on behalf of FDA, will audit U.S. dairy facilities to assure they comply with Chinese food-safety requirements.
The agreement is good news, and for some companies it’s a really big deal, said Matt Gould, analyst with Dairy Market Analyst.
The 2014 regulation froze additional plant approvals. If plants weren’t already approved, they couldn’t ship to China, he said.
Since then, new milk powder plants have been built in the U.S., and more are under construction. Additional whey is being produced, and China is the single biggest driver of whey exports. In addition, China’s fluid milk market is starting to mature, and that’s an avenue worth exploring, he said.
U.S. dairy organizations and the U.S. and Chinese governments worked on a registration process for more than two years. The issue was compliance with regulations between two countries with rigid regulatory systems, according to the U.S. Dairy Export Council.
“The deal marks a significant opportunity for the U.S. dairy industry. China is already the world’s largest dairy importer … . The potential to increase exports there is tremendous,” said Tom Vilsack, USDEC president and CEO.
The U.S. shipped $384 million worth of dairy products to China in 2016, making it the industry’s third-largest market behind Mexico and Canada. With Chinese demand increasing for imported milk and other dairy products, the potential for U.S. exports have been high -- but access has been a challenge.
The MOU is expected to increase access for more than 200 new exporters in the short term and pave the way for additional U.S. entrants in the future, according to USDEC.
“Although we expect the dairy plant list to be accepted within the next two to three weeks, China has not specified an exact date,” said Jonathan Gardner, USDEC vice president of market access and regulatory compliance.
Presently, 221 U.S. firms are eligible to ship dairy to China based on pre-decree access by the Chinese government. In addition, seven infant formula firms are also eligible. Those firms can continue to export their goods to China and will have two years to seek third-party certification and reapply for eligibility, said Peter Cassell, an FDA press officer.
Firms not currently on the list need to apply to FDA for registration and will need to seek third-party certification. FDA will soon issue guidance documents on the details, he said.
Source: Capital Press. Date: 2017-06-23
Seeds fair opens in Ho Chi Minh City
The fifth seeds exhibition opened today in HCM City with over 350 booths set up by business groups, research institutes, schools, farms, co-operatives and businesses from around the country.
It has seven areas for showcasing agricultural materials, farm machinery and equipment, ornamental fish, bonsai, VietGap fruits and vegetables, seeds, aquaculture and livestock brood stock, and the city’s agricultural achievements.
Trần Tấn Quý, deputy director of the city Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and head of the event organisation board, said the fair is organised to showcase high-quality and high-yield seeds and animal and seafood brood stock.
It is also aimed at creating an opportunity for localities, businesses, and co-operatives to meet, compare notes, and explore business opportunities in agricultural production and trading and promote Vietnamese agricultural brands, he said.
Through the event the city hopes to enhance investment and trade promotion in the agricultural sector, helping make the city a leader in the production and supply of high-quality seeds and animal and seafood varieties to other cities and provinces.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Lê Thanh Liêm, deputy chairman of the city People’s Committee, hailed the achievements of scientists and businesses in creating new seeds and animal brood stock and urged them to develop more production models and seeds and brood stock suitable for local conditions.
Several seminars, conferences and orchid and bonsai competitions will be held on the sidelines of the event.
The expo, organised by the department at the Biotechnology Centre in District 12, will run until June 26.
Source: VNS. Date: 2017-06-23
Beef shipment to China indicates a bright outlook for the meat sector
Meat processor Affco says its first shipment of high value beef into China reflects a bullish outlook the meat industry feels towards its international markets.
The shipment by the company owned by the Talley family was packaged and sent from its Horotiu site in Waikato and consisted of 33,000 frozen steaks and tenderloins for two of its Shanghai customers.
New skin pack technology was used for consumers to better judge the shape and quality of meat cuts. The cuts went into the food service industry or were bought by consumers online.
Speaking at Fieldays, Affco general manager Andy Leonard said the high value red meat market in China was growing. In addition to China, markets in the Middle East and South East Asia were able to pay more for the cuts than Western European markets.
"The willingness and the ability to pay is growing faster in China than anywhere else in the world to the point where elsewhere in the world, those more expensive cuts are diminishing as wealth moves from west to east.
"In western markets, goods are imported because they are cheaper. In eastern markets, good are imported because they are premiums."
The emerging markets continued to be strong with China in particular helping to hold up meat schedule prices in the wake of uncertainty over Brexit.
Affco China sales manager Clint Bailey said the high value beef shipment was a dramatic shift from the early days of shipping meat to China.
"One of our Chinese customers who has procured this meat was the first buyer of New Zealand lamb flaps to China back in 1993. Back then, lamb flaps were the most common exports to China.
"They were the cheapest cut of meat fetching around 60 cents a kilogram, now they're worth around $8.40 a kilo and we're also shipping beef tenderloins at $35 plus a kilo."
Beef exports to China are a relatively new event, having only begun the past six or seven years.
While the Free Trade Agreement in 2008 opened up new opportunities, the real driver behind beef exports is the changing face of China's population, Bailey said.
"Over the last decade 300 million people have moved from inland China to the city. There's a growing middle class who want to put high quality meat protein on their tables."
In March, the Government announced a six-month pilot to export chilled meat to China to help boost earnings for the beef and sheepmeat sectors.
Bailey said it would take the Chinese a while to build infrastructure to handle chilled meat and be in a position to pay a premium over frozen meat.
Affco achieved a good premium for sending chilled product in the marketplace compared with frozen lines, sales and marketing manager Mark de Lautour said.
There was a huge preference for chilled over frozen products and there was a perception that it was superior in quality, he said.
Leonard said the company also attracted a higher level of customer because there were some chefs that did not work with frozen meat.
"Dealing with customers who have the facilities to keep the product in a pristine condition at the other end was important and Affco's got a strong customer base in China with large players with the facilities to be able to do that."
Leonard said the markets looked reasonably settled for the new season. Beef prices were also set to remain strong.
"There is less competition globally, Australian supply numbers are down and that doesn't look like it's going to be a quick turnaround so I think we can be fairly settled on where beef numbers are at."
Source: NZFarmer. Date: 2017-06-23
Canada ditches drugs to feed China's big appetite for pork
Canada has overtaken the United States as the top North American supplier of pork to China as farmers and meat packers in both nations battle for lucrative shares of the biggest global market.
Canada's pork sales to China, after a sharp rise last year, exceeded those of the United States in the first quarter of 2017. That's only happened a handful of times in two decades, according to US and Canadian government data.
Rising affluence is driving China's voracious appetite for pork, including parts of the pig - feet, elbows, innards - which command little value in most countries. At the same time, tightened environmental standards in China have forced farm closures and boosted demand for cheaper imports.
That's a bonanza for Canadian farmers, who have almost completely removed the growth drug ractopamine from their pigs' diet - largely because it is banned in China, which consumes half the world's pork.
US exports to China, by contrast, are limited because only about half of the nation's herd has been weaned off the drug, according to US hog producers, meat packers and animal feed dealers.
But major US-based firms are now moving to produce more ractopamine-free hogs.
The ascension of Canada's pork exports underscores the power of the gargantuan Chinese market to influence agricultural practices and profits in supplier countries worldwide.
As recently as 2013, annual US pork sales to China, some 333,000 tonnes, more than doubled Canada's shipments of 161,000 tonnes.
That's the same year Canada's hog industry started to remove ractopamine, best known as Eli Lilly product Paylean.
In the first quarter of this year, Canada shipped nearly 93,000 tonnes of pork to China, on pace to hit 372,000 tonnes annually. That eclipsed the 87,500 tonnes that the United States shipped, according to data from both governments.
The European Union, which has long banned ractopamine, is China's top foreign pork supplier, sending 393,365 tonnes there in the first quarter.
Chinese authorities banned the use of ractopamine in livestock in 2002. They say meat raised with the drug can cause nausea and diarrhoea in people and be life-threatening to sufferers of heart disease.
The China market is so lucrative that Canada's HyLife started selling pork online directly to Chinese consumers last year.
Chinese demand has driven up prices for by-products including pigs' feet, kidneys and livers. Pigs' feet sell for more than C$2.50 (€1.65) per kilogram - double their value two years ago. Stewed pig's feet with white beans is a famous dish from Sichuan province, one of China's culinary capitals. In Beijing, stir-fried pig's liver with vegetables is common on dinner tables.
In all, China consumed 55 million tonnes of pork last year. Although that is the lowest total in four years, imports are rising because China's small-scale farmers have left the pork business in recent years because of falling prices and rising environmental standards.
Source: Reuters. Date: 2017-06-23
Chinese remain keen on agricultural investment
Chinese investors and companies remain eager to invest in Australian agriculture, with vineyards, dairy and aquaculture named yesterday as the most popular sectors.
The Agri-Investor forum in Melbourne was told by Matthew Schofield, partner with pioneering Chinese accountancy business ShineWing, that his Chinese clients had not been deterred by reports of anti-Chinese investment sentiment.
Mr Schofield said Chinese investors wanted to be part of the story involving China’s growing demand for high-quality food, with Australia seen as a safe place to invest with high regulatory, biosecurity and environmental standards. A key appeal was that freehold land could be bought in perpetuity.
Mr Schofield described the avalanche of Chinese money in agricultural investment in Australia as “astounding”.
“Our prospective clients want clean and green gold standard (food); I call it the Louis Vuitton syndrome that we must protect at all costs,” Mr Schofield said.
“They want premium brands and think our food quality is fantastic and, like with Louis Vuitton [handbags], they are prepared to pay a significant premium for it.”
Mr Schofield said China’s worst kept secret, that its rivers, soils and water table were heavily polluted, was now out in the open.
He nominated vineyard investment as a continuing “hot area”, in line with the increased consumption of premium wines by wealthy Chinese and the high regard held for Treasury Wine Estates’ Penfold red wine labels.
Mr Schofield tipped the purchase of dairy assets — from farms to infant formula brands and processing plants — as the next wave of Chinese investment, as new import regulations and registration rules to be introduced in early 2018 became clearer and the desire to lock in Australian milk supply remained.
“I think seafood and aquaculture will be the next round; you only have to look at (Chinese companies) buying hotels and casinos around the world and to think about Chinese tourists loving their seafood to see that,” he said.
Former trade minister Andrew Robb, who sits on the board of the joint Chinese-Australian owned Kidman cattle empire and is advising the Seafarms Group on its $2 billion prawn farm project near Kununurra, said business deals between China and Australia were the key to the future.
He said the live export cattle deal recently signed by Hancock’s Gina Rinehart with the Chinese New Hope group, which will see Hancock export up to 800,00 cattle a year to feedlots and abattoirs on an island near Shanghai, was an example of such future agribusiness co-operation.
Source: The Australian Business Review. Date: 2017-06-22
Australia temporarily suspends Vietnamese shrimp import ban
Australian government authorities have lifted the ban on uncooked Vietnamese shrimp product import, allowing wild shrimp caught in Australia to be processed in Vietnam, before re-entering the Australian market.
The decision was made after the Australia’s Department of Agriculture and Water Resources received written confirmation by the National Agro-Forestry-Fisheries Quality Assurance Department (NAFIQAD) under Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development that “it can meet conditions included in the updated health certificate.”
The Vietnamese department announced “it will be accepting permit applications for uncooked Australian wild caught shrimp exported to Vietnam for processing and re-imported into Australia from 15 June 2017."
The department also said its “biosecurity import condition database system has been updated to reflect the new requirements” from the Australian Agriculture Department.
Import permit applications for Australian wild shrimp processed in countries other than Vietnam“will be accepted once the competent authorities in these countries provide assurance that they meet Australia’s new import conditions,” stated the Agriculture Department.
This determination has helped lift the temporary ban made by Australia in January on shrimp exports from Asian countries, including Vietnam, on worries about the white spot outbreak in the country.
In February, the department loosened the ban on dried shrimp, shelf-stable prawn-based food products and other products caught from the exclusive economic zone of Australia as the risk of white spot virus outbreak was low on these products.
In May, Vietnam’s ministries of Industry and Trade and Agriculture and Rural Development urged Australian agencies to consider lifting the ban on Vietnamese shrimp imports, reporting the damage to Vietnam’s shrimp exports to Australia.
According to the Vietnam Trade Office in Australia, this is the seventh largest shrimp market for Vietnam, accounting for 3.6 per cent of Vietnam’s total shrimp exports.
In 2016, Vietnam exported USD 114.6 million worth of shrimp products to Australia, of which processed shrimp made up 78 per cent of the total.
In the last five years, Vietnam has been the biggest shrimp product supplier to Australia and demand for prawn products in the country is forecast to rise.
Source: Khmer Times. Date: 2017-06-22
Agriculture expo expected to draw Chinese investors
More than 1,000 Chinese investors and businessmen will soon come to Cambodia to seek investment partnerships with their Cambodian counterparts during the inaugural International Agriculture Products and Expository conference on Koh Pich Island.
The inaugural event is set for June 25 to 28 and expo organizer Bridget Lau, president of the US-International Federation for Supporting Small and Medium Enterprises, said 800 Chinese companies from 30 provinces in China will bring more than 8,000 pieces of agriculture equipment to showcase in Cambodia.
“Through this expo, we want the world to know about the Cambodian agriculture sector,” she said yesterday during a press briefing on the upcoming conference. “We strongly hope that Cambodian agricultural products will have more market access to the globe after the expo.”
“Cambodia has a wide range of agricultural products, so we are calling for Chinese investors to invest and purchase agriculture products from Cambodia,” Ms. Lau added, noting that companies from Taiwan, Japan and Vietnam are also attending.
Lim Heng, vice president of the Cambodia Chamber of Commerce, said that through this expo, more and more Chinese companies will partner with Cambodian companies to produce and process agricultural products to export to China and other countries.
“We don’t want to bring goods from China to sell in the Cambodian market; we want to have factories here to produce and process agricultural products for export,” he said.
Mao Minea, director of the department of agricultural extension at the Ministry of Agriculture, said the government supports the expo, just as it supports the sector.
He said the government has strategies to develop and boost the agriculture sector by building a 14.5-meter deep-sea port, lowering the electricity tariff, and developing airports for transportation.
Mr Minea added that Cambodia exported about 257,637 tonnes of rice in the first five months of 2017, up 10 percent compared to the first five months of 2016.
The government has also set up a taskforce to monitor commodity prices to protect people’s living standards, he said.
Commerce Minister Pan Sorasak will lead the taskforce with officials from relevant departments in the ministry.
The taskforce will study and collect data related to production, cost and supply chain capacity, including the commodity price of prioritised products such as rice, fish, chicken, pork, gas, diesel and cassava.
Source: Khmer Times. Date: 2017-06-22
Chinese government approves new GMO crops
China plans to import two new varieties of genetically modified crops from the United States, as it accelerates a review of biotech products as part of its broader efforts to promote economic and trade ties with the US.
The approvals came right after China finalized detailed protocols on imports of US beef. The outcome was arrived at due to the two nations' willingness over the past several months to enforce their 100-day action plan agreed by their top leaders, with a goal to establish a comprehensive economic dialogue.
Wu Laping, a professor of the College of Economic and Management at China Agricultural University, said the updated approvals to US agricultural products are based on the mutual benefits that the two sides stand to gain.
"Not only will it meet China's increasing domestic grain demand, but also contribute to growth in the US," he said.
In May, China pledged to speed up checks of eight US varieties of GMO crops under the bilateral trade deal.
Two of them received approval from China's Ministry of Agriculture on Wednesday, said the ministry in a statement. The ministry gave permits to two US-based agriculture companies Monsanto Co and Dow AgroSciences LLC to ship their soybeans and corn to China from June 12.
The ministry said it also renewed import approvals for 14 other GMO crops.
In China, foreign companies must obtain safety certificates issued by the Ministry of Agriculture, in order to export GMO crops to the market. Testing, production and marketing are subject to government approval.
Under the 100-day plan, imported crops will only be used as raw materials, and none are permitted to be grown in China, according to Wu Kongming, vice-president of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.
Commenting on Chinese consumers' deep concerns about the safety of GMO foodstuffs, Wu said relevant government bodies are bound to take prudent measures to make evaluations and ensure food safety.
Source: Reuters. Date: 2017-06-16
Norway helps Vietnam boost aquaculture training
The Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s HCM City branch (VCCI HCM) and the Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise (NHO), on June 14, began a two-year programme for improving the quality of vocational training in aquaculture.
Accordingly, between now and 2019, the NHO will help the VCCI HCM train 500 labourers for the sector in Mekong Delta and south central regions.
Bui Thi Ninh, head of the bureau for employers’ activities at the VCCI HCM, said the programme aims to link enterprises and vocational training schools, and reinforce enterprises’ collaboration with training schools to create a skilled workforce that is able to meet the requirements of employers in the aquaculture industry.
It also seeks to expand awareness of career opportunities in the field among parents and high school students, she said.
It will be piloted in Dong Thap and Khanh Hoa provinces.
Speaking at the launch in HCM City on June 14, Vo Tan Thanh, director of the VCCI HCM, said fishery is one of the country’s key economic sectors, with aquaculture and fishing output exceeding 6.7 million tonnes last year and export earnings reaching 7 billion USD.
The industry employs around nine million people directly and indirectly, but more than 60 percent are unskilled, he said.
Tore Myhre, director of NHO’s International Department, said investing in skills development, especially vocational training, is important to improve the productivity and profitability of enterprises.
Aquaculture is a sector that is growing in importance for both countries, he said.
NHO and VCCI, together with Vietnamese and Norwegian industry players, have identified a need for more skilled and productive operators in their value chain from production to processing, he said.
“The current availability of vocational training for the aquaculture industry is limited despite an increase in demand for human resources.
“The aquaculture industry is also becoming more technically advanced, which increases the demand for skilled workers.
“Working in aquaculture is by many perceived as a low-status job often associated with heavy manual labour. The industry is however in rapid development, and needs to attract motivated and skilled young professionals.
“For this to happen, one needs to increase knowledge among parents and young students about what it means to work on a modern fish farm.”
The project would address this through various career guidance initiatives, he said.
Thanh said since 2010 the VCCI HCM, with technical support from NHO, has co-operated with the Dong Nai College of High Technologyand companies in Dong Nai province to pilot a training programme in mechanical engineering and hospitality.
Ninety seven percent of students from this training programme have got jobs after graduating, with their training quality deeply appreciated by employers, he said.
Following its success, NHO and the VCCI HCM have expanded their co-operation to the aquaculture sector, he added.
Source: VNA. Date: 2017-06-16
U.S. beef speeds to China by air as trade deal ends 14-year ban
The first shipment of U.S. beef to China under a new trade deal went airborne on Wednesday, a Nebraska meat company said, just two days after Washington finalized details to resume exports, ending a 14-year ban.
Greater Omaha Packing Co said it shipped beef by plane to China from Nebraska, a top U.S. beef producing state, to meet strong demand.
"They want it right away," Chief Executive Officer Henry Davis said about Chinese consumers.
Beijing banned U.S. beef imports in 2003 after a U.S. scare over mad cow disease, but last month agreed to allow U.S. shipments by mid July as part of a broader trade deal.
Talks moved quickly, and U.S. officials said on Monday they had finalized requirements for exports.
China is the world's fastest growing beef market, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and its imports increased to $2.5 billion last year from $275 million in 2012.
To win business, Greater Omaha Packing has hired bilingual salespeople from China, Davis said. He added that the company had received hundreds of phone calls in recent months about sales to China from potential customers and distributors.
To make the first shipment, the company, which exports to other countries, affixed labels in English and Chinese on every box of beef on the flight, Davis said.
"We'd never done Chinese before," he said.
So far, only Greater Omaha Packing and Tyson Foods Inc, the biggest U.S. meat company, have processing plants approved by the USDA to ship beef to China.
Tyson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
On Tuesday, Cargill Inc [CARG.UL], another major beef processor, said that only a small percentage of the total current U.S. cattle supply would qualify for exports to China under the terms of the new trade agreement.
The deal requires U.S. producers to track the birthplace of cattle born in the United States that are destined for export to China and take other steps.
Some U.S. producers still view the market as lucrative, given China's expanding middle class.
The U.S. Meat Export Federation, a trade group, said this week that China's import requirements will add costs for producers.
However, CEO Philip Seng said "China holds exciting potential for the U.S. beef industry and for buyers in the market who have waited a very long time for the return of high-quality U.S. beef."
Source: Reuters. Date: 2017-06-16