Government ministers and officials were briefed on AgraKepak’s success and the development of marketing Irish pork and beef products into Chinese market, at the Bord Bia reception at the 2018 China International Import Expo (CIIE) recently.
At the reception, Jiang Bian and Xiaoming He of AgraKepak presented to Heather Humphreys, Minister for Business, Enterprise & Innovation; Andrew Doyle, Minister of State for Food, Forestry and Horticulture; Sinead McPhillips, Assistant Secretary, Agri-Food Sectoral Policy and Strategy Development; and Tara McCarthy, CEO Bord Bia.
Commenting on the expo, Kevin Ruane, Managing Director of AgraKepak said: “CIIE is an extremely important trade show for us to be part of, especially as we continue to grow our presence in China. Having our Shanghai team members on the ground as the true experts in the region has been central to our success to date. We are very grateful to have had the opportunity to brief Government ministers and officials on our progress.”
CIIE is the first and biggest import-oriented expo held by Chinese President, Xi Jingpin. Addressing the CIIE’s opening ceremony on 5th November, the Chinenese President said that China’s imported goods are estimated to exceed 30 trillion dollars and services are estimated to exceed 10 trillion dollars, respectively, in the next 15 years. These numbers represent nearly half of the global GDP in 2017.
More than 3,600 companies from 172 countries, regions and international organisations have showcased their achievements at the CIIE, looking for more chances of international cooperation. Around 400,000 merchants from China and abroad were present at the expo and met with companies at the exhibition stands.
Key AgraKepak China Milestones
- In 2016, AgraKepak opened its first commercial office in Shanghai, China.
- In 2017, Agrakepak (Shanghai）Limited became an officially registered meat importer in China and acquired its own import licenses as well as a food distribution license. This resulted in the local Chinese team expanding to a total of five people.
- In 2017, Agrakepak launched the first version of our bespoke trading and CRM system ‘AgraXchange’ to service customers and suppliers.
- Over the past year, two of AgraKepak’s parent company sites – Kepak Clonee and McCarren Meats (Kepak Cavan) – were approved for exports to China.
- In May 2018, AgraKepak signed a five-year distribution contract valued at €35m with China-based, company Esen Agro Group.