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Showcase, Seminar Promote U.S. Pork Products to China’s Frozen Food Industry

Published: Jun 24, 2016

To build relationships with China’s frozen food industry, USMEF teamed with a leading cold storage company in Shenzhen in a U.S. pork seminar and product showcase. More than 130 guests, including the director of the U.S. Agricultural Trade Office and the U.S. Consulate General, participated in the event, funded by the Pork Checkoff and the USDA Market Access Program (MAP).

A product showcase before the seminar allowed Chinese traders and USMEF members to discuss U.S. pork products

Prior to the seminar, U.S. pork products were displayed to give Chinese traders and USMEF members an opportunity to discuss business opportunities face-to-face. After the product showcase, the seminar opened with a “signing of cooperation” ceremony between USMEF and Higreen, which in 2012 opened a 20,000-ton cold storage warehouse in the Longgang District of Shenzhen and is one of the area’s top cold storage companies.

“The agreement states that Higreen will cooperate with USMEF to further promote U.S. pork to traders in the market, as well as share industry information with USMEF,” explained Ming Liang, USMEF marketing director in China.

Liang set the stage for the seminar with an overview of the U.S. pork industry and introduced USMEF members in attendance. He then brought to the stage a representative of the Tajimaya restaurant from Hong Kong who talked about the preservation and defrosting of meat, pork quality and other topics of interest to China’s meat processors.

Chef Charles Lai cooked U.S. pork and invited members of the audience to participate

USMEF Chef Charles Lai then demonstrated various applications for U.S. pork spareribs and CT butt. Two guests were invited to the stage to cook U.S. pork – aiming to show that U.S. pork can be prepared by people with a wide range of cooking skills, from the average consumer all the way up to a master chef. That was followed by a lunch reception featuring U.S. pork roast CT butt and U.S. pork spareribs.

After lunch, the members toured Higreen’s facilities and met with Shenzhen custom agents and China Inspection and Quarantine (CIQ) officials.

Chinese traders showed great interest in the U.S. pork products on display

“The seminar and showcase turned out to be fruitful and successful, and it will provide more opportunities for U.S. pork in this area,“ said Liang. “One of our goals in 2016 is to foster more cooperation with local operators and the placement of more U.S. pork products into the trade channel. In this case, the exposure of U.S. pork to those tied into the cold storage market is expected to further increase brand awareness among Chinese traders.”