New Zealand will expedite expanding its commodity retailing
network in China, New Zealand's Senior Trade Commissioner for North
Asia Merv Stark said during a visit to Shanghai on Wednesday.
Stark said his country would stage a governmental food and
beverage promotion program in Shanghai in May and by then, food and
beverages from New Zealand, including meat, wine, dairy products
and honey would be available in all key retailing shops across the
city.
It will be first such promotion event ever hosted by the
government of New Zealand in Asia.
In big Chinese cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou,
the food consumption structure of local residents has been
improving fast. As conventional farmers' markets lose their
absolute advantages, more and more consumers turn to new retailing
channels such as hypermarkets.
The residents' demand for food quality has been improving, along
with improved capability of enduring higher retailing prices, which
is favorable to the market expansion of quality food from New
Zealand, said a business person from New Zealand.
China is now New Zealand's fourth biggest global trading
partner. New Zealand is the first Western country that has signed a
World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement with China and is also the
first developed country that has recognized China's market economic
status.
Currently, the two countries have been negotiating over free
trade agreements.
New Zealand exported NZ$1.55 billion worth of commodities in the
past year, of which, food and beverages made up NZ$514 million and
timber totaled NZ$338 million.
China has also provided New Zealand with market opportunities in
the fields of agrotechniques and education.
An estimate provided by New Zealand said the retailing food
market in China had been expanding rapidly, and the growth rate in
retail sales last year was 12.5 percent.
By the year 2010, the food market size in China will expand from
the present US$285 billion to US$456 billion.
Wen Chin Powles, consul-general of New Zealand's Consulate
General in Shanghai, said China and New Zealand were economically
complementary. New Zealand will provide China with quality raw
materials and food, while China will provide New Zealand with
commodities it cannot produce, the diplomat said.
(Xinhua News Agency March 10, 2006)
