Danish Crown wins China access for processed pork
Following a lengthy negotiation period between China and Denmark, Danish Crown which is owned by Tulip Food Company, can export three categories of processed food to the country. They are sausages and salami/pepperoni from its Svenstrup factory and canned products from its factory in Vejle. All products can be sold to the retail trade, online and to the foodservice sector in China
Tulip Food Company CEO Kasper Lenbroch said: “It clearly marks a breakthrough for Danish food exports. China is an extremely interesting market, and we already have agreements in place with partners wanting to sell our products. Therefore, I expect the first container to be shipped off within the next few weeks.”
Lenbroch expects the approval to grow to a value of DKK250 million per annum.
“For sausages and canned products alone, we see potential exports from Denmark of DKK 250 million a year,” he said. “It'll take a few years to build to this level, but Danish pork already enjoys a strong position in China, so we're hardly starting from scratch.”
This newly-granted access to the Chinese market forms part of Danish Crown’s strategy which, in addition to focusing on the domestic markets in Northern Europe, includes plans for growth in Asia including its own factory in China.
Jais Valeur, group CEO of Danish Crown, said: “In my opinion, the Danish Crown Group will soon have an almost ideal set-up in China. Extensive and well-established exports of fresh pork from Denmark will now be boosted by heat-treated products such as sausages and canned products. This will soon be complemented with local production based on Danish raw materials, which will put us in an extremely strong position in what in the space of just a few years has become one of Danish Crown's most important market.”
Valeur praised the work done to secure the approval. “It's incredibly valuable for us that the Danish authorities, headed by the Minister for Environment and Food of Denmark Esben Lunde Larsen together with employees at the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration and staff at the Danish embassy in Beijing have worked unfailingly to secure the agreement,” he said. “Their persistent efforts have ensured that Danish food businesses are yet again leading the way.
“For the Danish Crown Group, access to the Chinese market means that it will now be possible to get closer both to the retail trade and to the foodservice wholesalers, even before Danish Crown's own factory near Shanghai is completed in 2019.”
