Noon International: Food Trading Import Export

Japan Gyoza saga continues, were they tampered with? by whom? Chinese? Japanese?

Yu Xinmin of the Ministry of Public Health says there is little chance that the methamidaphos was put into the product in China. Chinese officials are now leaning toward the conclusion that the gyoza was tampered with, but where? In a normal export transaction the product would be packaged in its final presentation, in this case at Tianyuan Foods, and then stuffed into a reefer container, doors closed and sealed. The seal would not be broken again until it arrives at its final destination, in this case Japan. Thus if the normal protocol was followed it would lead one to believe that the product must have been contaminated in Japan.

Japanese authorities have a different view or conclusion. After testing the methamidophos in Japan they say it is of inferior quality and not pure, therefore it is not from Japan. If the methamidophos is not of Japanese origin then from where? It appears to be a vicious circle with nothing concrete to draw a conclusion.

Of noted interest is that China in 2007, before the incident of the Gyoza, had made a decision to ban the use of methamidophos in agriculture production, manufacturing and transporting of the pesticide. This took effect January 1, 2008. This is good news for us exporters because methamidophos has been a problem in Asia for years (although it is allowed on broccoli and cauliflower in the USA). The question remains which pesticide the farmers will use in lieu of methamidophos, will it be legal in the USA or Japan or …

(Each country has their own list of acceptable pesticides and tolerances.)

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Sorting Room

Chinese Girl Sorting

Fully Dressed Worker

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Here are a couple of notices being sent out in China. 1. Tianyuan Foods of Gyoza fame to its customers. 2. Announcement to strengthen food exports from JinHua.

China is running scared after the recent Gyoza food poisoning and other food safety issues. This is even of greater importance now as we approach the 2008 Olympics in August of this year. China is desperately trying to control the situation as can be witnessed with two recent documents from China.

Recent Notice From Tianyuan Foods In China

First half of letter is in Chinese followed by the English translation.

Announcement To Strengthen Inspection Of Export Foods

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China CIQ restricts exports

The China CIQ from the Rizhao district in Shandong province has taken independent action to prohibit all exports until they conduct an audit of all facilities in their geographic region. This is part of a fall out from the Japan methamidophos contaminated Gyoza problem that erupted a couple of weeks ago. It is said it will take 1 month for the Rizhao CIQ branch to audit all the facilities and weed out the facilities that are not qualified for exports of frozen vegetables. The Rizhao CIQ is taking protective action because if a problem does occur for exported product they will be the culprits since they certify product for export.

In Zhejiang province the CIQ has banned exports of frozen prepared food to Japan. They have also changed their policy for export of frozen vegetables to other countries. Now the exporting facility must notify Zhejiang CIQ when the product is packed and ready to export, at this time the CIQ will draw samples and either give their blessing or not for export. Some items such as mushrooms and asparagus from Zhejiang the CIQ will not allow to export at all. Broccoli and cauliflower are okay to export to USA but the product is short so it really doesn’t mean too much.

Each Provincial, regional or district CIQ office is independent and has the ability to make their own rules. As we see in Rizhao the policy is to perform audits, Zhejiang has their own restrictive measures in place. The CIQ feels the best way to prevent problems is not to ship. If no product is exported there is no possibility of repercussions.

Rumor has it that the current trend of prohibiting or curtailing exports will continue until President Hu visits Japan in April. This will probably apply more to Japanese exports but we could see the same happening for other countries such as US, Australia and Europe.

The question is how long this will last and will their be payoff to get your product approved by the CIQ for export?

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Senior Chinese officials have visited China this week to pledge that food safety is a prime concern to China and that the incident will be seriously investigated. Despite this and other announcements from Senior and Non-Senior officials in China consumers are not quite convinced. Daiei Inc., one of Japan’s major supermarket chains, stated that the sales of frozen food, mainly of Chinese origin, have dropped at least 30% compared to last year since the news of the poisoned dumplings emerged last week. On the other hand sales of produce used to make dumplings went up.

Ito Yokado, another supermarket operator, set up special areas inside its stores selling produce used to make your own dumplings.

Both China and Japan will have to handle this with extreme care since China is the second biggest supplier of food into Japan after the USA.

We’ll keep you posted on how this saga develops.

Technorati Tags: Contaminated Dumplings, food safety, China, supermarket

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A Picture Tells A Thousand Words

Noon International APL container in China that never maid it to the port.

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China is back in the news again, this time for GM rice. Greenpeace claims to have found genetically modified rice imported into the UK. The rice is known as Bt63 which apparently was grown in China and is illegal in Europe as well as China. Because of these events the European Commission has decided to implement a new rule effective April 1, 2008 that will require all food products that contain Chinese rice to require mandatory certification that it has been tested for the experimental GM rice.

China now appears to be stepping up its work on GM development. They are aware of the fact that as China develops it will displace land that once went to agriculture. China which has to feed 1 out of every 5 is concerned if disease set in or some other calamity they would be facing a very difficult situation. The solution for China is easy – the development of transgenics.

In China, unlike democratic countries, the people have no choice, as all decisions are made at the government level. The Chinese people are aware of GM products as illustrated in a recent survey taken in Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Beijing were 65% of the people, who were familiar with GM said they preferred conventional food.

The article goes on to cite that as America was the leader in GM in the last decade we are now approaching the Asian Decade as China steps up its pursuits of transgenic development. The wheels have been set in motion.

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Rumor has it that food giant Conagra will finalize purchase of Watts Brothers Frozen Foods this coming week of February 18th.

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China crop update

China is facing one of the worst seasons in recent years. Abnormal weather is raising havoc for farmers and for the frozen vegetable industry. It is the coldest weather in the past 50 years with many provinces facing snow and freezing conditions. 18 provinces in China have been impacted by the weather this year.

Individual crop conditions listed below:

• Leaf Vegetables – prices have doubled compared to previous years.
• Root Vegetables/Beans – Strong market demand due to lack of leaf vegetables. Prices unworkable for frozen factories. Japan cannot afford high raw material cost for their fresh market.
• Celery – Normal price RMB750 – 800 per metric ton. Today RMB1250/mt
• Green Pepper – Normal price RMB2000/mt. Today RMB2700 – 2900.
• Broccoli – Normal price RMB1400 – 1600/mt. Today RMB2500 – 2600/mt.
• Cauliflower – Normal price RMB400 – 500/mt. Today RMB1200 – 1600/mt.
• PeaPods – Normal RMB3000 – 3500/mt. Today RMB8000 – 9000/mt.
• Sugar Snap Peas – Normal RMB3500 – 3800/mt. Today over RMB6000/mt.
• Water Chestnuts (peeled and delivered to factory) Normal RMB2500 – 2900/mt. Today RMB3300 – 3900. We are predicting that the price will rise even further to the RMB4500 – 5000/mt range because total harvest quantity is 35% of last year, strond demand in local market.

Other factors impacting price:

• Pesticide cost 20 – 30% higher than last year.
• Fertilizer cost is 85 – 100% higher than before because of high oil cost.
• Field Workers – early 2007 paid RMB15/8hours (no need to supply food and transportation. Now after new labor regulation and manpower situation in China RMB30/6.5 hours with food and transportation.

Technorati Tags: Noon International, vegetables, weather

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Gong Xi Fa Cai
Kung Hay Fat Choy

Happy New Year Of The Rat 2008 (February 7, 2008)

Eat Well!!

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