Pigmeat will be one of the key products on the agenda during this week’s visit to China and Japan by EU farm commissioner, Phil Hogan, accompanied by more than 60 agri-food executives from 15 member states, including representatives from AHDB and pig sector organisations from Denmark, Spain and France.
The week-long visit, which began on Saturday will include meetings today with China’s agriculture minister, Han Changfu, trade & industry minister, Zhang Mao, and the launch in China of “European Restaurant Week”. Tuesday’s programme will include discussions on food safety issues
The EU party will then move on to Tokyo for another round of meetings, including a session between Mr Hogan (pictured above) and Japan’s farm minister, Moriyama. The programme will conclude with a field trip to look at wagyu beef and pork production.
“China and Japan are particularly important markets for the EU agri-food sector which have shown considerable growth in recent years,” said Mr Hogan. “I hope that these promotion events will highlight the quality, traditions and added value of our products, as well as our food safety and traceability guarantees, and stimulate further interest from Chinese and Japanese consumers in European food and drink.”
He said that he wanted to build on existing trade flows and show that Europe is open to business, in particular for agri-food products.
“My hope is that I can also make some progress on a number of hindrances to current trade,” he said.
In addition to AHDB’s involvement on behalf of the UK industry, pigmeat sector specialists from Interporc (Spain), Inaporc (France) and Danish Crown (Demark) are also travelling with the business delegation.