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Visit to boost Australia - China organic ties
National Association for Sustainable Agriculture, Australia’s (NASAA) General Manager Ben Copeman will speak at BIOFACH CHINA 2015 in Shanghai this week to help further strengthen ties between the Australian and Chinese organic industries.
BIOFACH CHINA 2015 is that country’s most important organic trade exhibition and will host over 16,000 visitors and 345 exhibitors from the international organic sector at the Shanghai World Expo & Convention Center from 28–30 May.
Mr Copeman is the only certifier from the Asia Pacific region invited to speak at the conference by organiser the China Green Food Development Center.
In his speech he will explore the opportunities for closer trade ties, investment and skills sharing between the Australian and Chinese organic industries arising from the recent China-Australia Free Trade Agreement.
During his visit he will also meet with Chinese organic wholesalers, distributors and institutional investors about finding new markets for Australian certified organic products.
“Australia’s reputation for high quality, green and clean conventional produce will help boost the exports of even cleaner, even greener and even safer organic produce,” Mr Copeman said.
“China is Australia’s largest trading partner, however the EU and the US have traditionally been the largest markets for Australia’s organic produce.
“China is yet to rate a mention in our top five export markets and I strongly suspect that this will change over the next four to 10 years especially with the removal of tariffs on Australian dairy products, beef and sheep meats, wine products and on horticulture.”
He said the China Australia FTA allowed market access for Australian services providers that could help to advance the skills of Chinese organic operators.
“China is Australia’s largest services market, with exports of services valued at AU$7.5 billion in 2013 – 14.
“I would hope to see Australian organic operators taking their skills and organic management services to China to help advance what is already one of the largest and fastest growing markets on the planet.”
Mr Copeman said 2014 had arguably been the most significant for the Australian organic sector in 30 years with huge gains in export opportunities to China.
“In early 2014 NASAA became the first foreign certifier approved to inspect Australian based operations for certification to Chinese Organic Regulations for direct export to China,” he said.
“To compliment this arrangement, we signed a global logistics agreement with 20Cube to handle and transport all organic products domestically and around the world, offering organic operators complete product integrity and traceability from the paddock to the retailer’s shelf.”
He said as the demand for organic products both domestically and internationally continues to soar, more and producers are looking to enter the market.
Since January 2015 NASAA has seen a 212 percent increase in enquiries from Australian producers seeking information on how to achieve organic certification, off the back of a 156 percent increase in organic certification enquiries between 2013 and 2014.
Tags: BIOFACH CHINA , 2015 , Australia , NASAA
