Foshan Dingliang aims to be a key player after sending its first batch of seedlings to the competitive US marketplace. 

Weng Minqiang has to get the temperature and humidity just right for his butterfly orchid seedlings.

Environmental conditions inside his greenhouse complex in Foshan’s Shunde district of Guangdong province are crucial to meet export regulations in the United States.

“It is a very precise procedure,” said Weng, general manager of Foshan Dingliang Phalaenopsis Industry Development Co Ltd, a company he set up. “Export rules are demanding.”

This will be his first US order, a batch of 10,000 seedlings, worth $30,000.

To mark the occasion, Weng even held a special ceremony in Shunde district on June 21.

“The butterfly orchids were given the green light by United States authorities after they passed a strict inspection and went through a quarantine period to meet the import standards required,” he said.

The seedlings will be packed in a container and will travel by sea. It will be the first shipment from a Chinese company and Weng confessed he was nervous.

“I hope it is a good beginning,” he said.

Still, Weng is confident that this is just the start of an incredible journey, which will see other Chinese horticultural nurseries from the region break into the US market.

After all, he has a track record of success. Last month, his company Dingliang Biological Technology exported 1,000 butterfly orchid plants, worth about $3,000, to Canada.

It was a crucial, first step. But the big prize is the US as annual imports of butterfly orchids to the biggest economy in the world is 50 million, with 23 million seedlings, which are worth between $46 million and $115 million depending on their size.

“Before we moved into the market only the province of Taiwan sold medium butterfly orchid seedlings to the US,” Weng said.

But now his company along with other Guangdong growers hope to export more than 1,000 containers, holding at least 20 million seedlings, worldwide in the years ahead.

His plans might sound ambitious, but the rewards outweigh the risks, although Weng declined to reveal detailed financial figures such as sales and revenue.

Butterfly orchid seedlings in the US alone sell for between $2 and $5 each, which is about 50 percent higher than domestic prices.

“Production costs for exporting them are also higher than moving them around the country here,” Weng said.

Xian Yangfu, deputy head of Foshan’s Shunde district, acknowledged that local government is pushing to develop high-tech agriculture.

“Exports in flowers are expected to play a big part in the district’s economic growth in the future,” he said.

Butterfly orchids, cultivated in Shunde, have been exported to Southeast Asia, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.

Located in the western part of the Pearl River delta, the region is known for its flowers and plants, which are sold across the country and overseas.

Yang Guohai, deputy director general of Guangdong Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau, confirmed that tighter inspection procedures and quarantine requirements would help to promote exports in high quality flowers and plants.

“We should be able to export more than 20 million medium butterfly orchid seedlings worldwide in the years to come,” Yang said, adding that 11 Chinese companies involved in the sector have been given the green light to export to the US.

Source: China Daily Date: 2017-06-29

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

Join our WeChat subscription account for the latest news regarding developments in China’s agriculture.

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

The capital of Hubei province has started a program to allow businesses to flourish in run-down and abandoned villages. Zhou Lihua and Liu Kun report from Wuhan, with Chen Mengwei in Beijing.

At a time when large cities are still sucking in rural residents from across the nation, a major city in Central China is working hard to reverse the trend by encouraging people to move to the countryside.

In April, Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, proposed a program – the “20 Golden Terms”, as it was dubbed by the media – that would allow urban residents to conduct business in the city’s rural areas.

The drive came in response to rapid urbanization which has seen villages in and around the city sucked dry of residents.

According to research conducted by the municipal government, more than 116,000 houses, nearly 16 percent, of the 1,902 villages around the city have been abandoned. By the end of last year, nearly 1 million of Wuhan’s rural residents had moved to the city’s central areas.

Tan Benzhong, director of the Wuhan Municipal Agriculture Committee, said the rising number of empty houses in villages has been caused, in part, by the rapid pace of urbanization.

Some villagers have obtained hukou, or household registration, in Wuhan, while many young people are leaving to look for work in big cities.

When government officials conducted a random survey in 38 villages, they discovered that more than 78 percent of those interviewed were willing to lease their empty homes to gain extra income. There was only one problem – who would rent the properties?

In response, the government came up with the “golden” package, which essentially cleared the way for people who want to make money in the countryside, and promised hard cash encouragements for qualified applicants.

The policy ensures that outsiders enjoy the same business terms as their rural counterparts, no matter which village they choose to invest in. Green lights and express passes will be provided for all application procedures.

The city government is committed to spending large sums to improve the infrastructure, including providing private and public toilets, to ensure that newcomers and tourists enjoy their time in the city’s villages. The final details of the funding arrangements have yet to be released.

Most attractively, entrepreneurs are eligible for cash stipends of as much as 100,000 yuan ($14,700) for undertaking certain types of business, such as agritainment (farm-based entertainment) and agritourism.

Positive expectations

Zhang Qun, chief of the new countryside development department at the Wuhan Municipal Agriculture Committee, said the government has positive expectations for the campaign, mainly because nearly 3 million urban residents, or 30 percent of the population, are age 60 or older in Wuhan.

“Quite a few of these people have both the enthusiasm and financial capability to move to the countryside and enjoy life after retirement,” Zhang said. “If 10 percent of them want to do this, that’s 300,000 people. That could present a huge market opportunity.”

Despite the benefits on offer, Zhang conceded that there are potential problems for tenants, landlords and regulators.

Some tenants are concerned that house owners may not honor long-term agreements and will terminate contracts when they feel like it.

Moreover, others want to buy the houses as an investment, but the current laws only allow outsiders to rent properties for no longer than 20 years.

Some villagers are worried that the tenants will adapt the houses for business purposes to such an extent that they will not be able to live in them in the future.

Some government regulators, especially those in charge of housing, doubt whether people who rent houses for business purposes will abide by the rules and refrain from expanding the properties illegally.

“But one thing is for sure, if your business loses money, the government will not cover your loss. The current policy does not even consider that,” Zhang said.

“Our stipend policy is equal for everybody. We will put our focus on providing guidance in advance. People should act based on their own situations.”

Source: China Daily Date: 2017-06-14

There’s growing demand for U.S. beef in Asian markets, and the Illinois Beef Association sees an opportunity for cattle farmers in the state to expand operations as the call for high-quality beef in Japan and South Korea increases.

Reid Blossom, executive vice president of the association, said Japan is one of the best markets for Illinois cattle farmers, and President Donald Trump is working to open the Chinese market for U.S. beef, which would add an additional 1.4 billion potential consumers.

“An increase in exports to the Pacific Rim and Asia will absolutely lead to higher consumer demand and an increase in cattle prices,” Blossom said.

Approximately 15 percent of domestic beef production in Illinois is exported every year, and roughly $275 of the price of an animal in an Illinois feedyard can be attributed to international demand, Blossom said.

“With some of our largest and strongest export markets being Japan and South Korea currently, it’s obvious that those markets are having a very positive impact on cattle farmers in Illinois,” Blossom said.

The cattle population has grown over the past several years. Blossom said that while it’s not tied to market access or international trade, increased trade opportunities are welcome.

Cattle producers operate with the market fundamentals of supply and demand. The way to augment demand is to add more consumers and give them more opportunities to purchase Illinois beef products without changing supply, according to Blossom.

“That increases the price we get for our animals, and so we’ve been very supportive of efforts on the national level to increase market access overseas,” Blossom said.

China has been a target for Illinois cattle farmers for quite some time because it has the largest population in the world, according to Blossom.

Blossom said there are other beneficial opportunities in the future for Illinois cattle farmers.

“Looking further ahead beyond China, we think the European Union is a wonderful, tremendous target to expand access, as is the Middle East and, after the Brexit vote last year, the United Kingdom,” Blossom said.

Source: Illinois News Network. Date: 2017-06-15