UK signs £50m pork deal with China

The UK has agreed to a £50m pork trade deal with China as part of its effort to increase trade for British food and farming businesses.

The agreement was announced by Agriculture Minister Jim Paice while on a trade mission to China, the largest market for pig meat globally.

The exported pork will mostly include offal, trotters, ears and other parts that are known as ‘fifth quarter’, which are popular in China, but have no demand in the UK.

Jim Paice said China is the most lucrative grocery market in the world, and its rapidly expanding middle class has an appetite for Western goods.

"In particular they are eating more meat, and our top quality producers have got huge opportunities to meet that demand and help our economic recovery," Paice added.

According to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the British pig industry estimates that the pork deal with China will soon be worth more than £50m a year. The first shipment is ready to be dispatched by Tulip, a leading producer in the UK.

British Pig Executive (BPEX) chairman Stewart Houston said that this development is something the organisation has been working towards for several years in close co-operation with Defra and the British embassy in Beijing.

"Pork is the most popular meat in China and some of the cuts which are less popular here command a premium over there," Houston added.

The industry is also developing its trade in genetic material for breeding programmes, as UK pigs have greater fertility.

The consumption of meat in China is growing rapidly but local supply cannot address the demand. Following this announcement, negotiations over lamb and beef exports to China may soon be initiated.

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Image: The British-Chinese trade agreement will in particular include offal, trotters, ears and other parts that are known as ‘fifth quarter’, which are popular in China but have no demand in the UK. Photo: Jdbunod