Sao Paulo, Brazil, 14 Oct – Inspectors from the Official Veterinary Service of China are due to arrive in Brazil Wednesday to evaluate the pig and wild bore sanitation system and for gelatine production, with a view to increasing trade between the two countries.

Brazil does not export pork meat to the Chinese market, which with production of 40 million tonnes per year is the largest in the world.

“Although it is the world’s laregst producer of pork, demand is growing fast and China is seeking external suppliers,” said the executive director of the Union of the Pork Product Industry of Rio Grande do Sul, Rogério Kerber.

The Chinese mission will remain in Brazil for 10 days and will visit the states of Santa Catarina, Rio Grande do Sul, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Goiás.

The mission will visit refrigeration facilities, pig farms, production areas and the laboratory system and waste checking facilities.

The technical director of the federal superintendence for Agriculture of Rio Grande do Sul, José Severo,
said, “the Brazilian industry is not very hopeful that the visit will lead to an immediate start of exports to China. At the moment the aim is to find out about production conditions for pork in Brazil.”

In 2008, China rose from third to first in the ranking of the countries importing agri-business products from Brazil.

From January to September of this year over US$7 billion in agriculture goods were sold, a rise of 91.17 percent as compared to the same period of 2007.

Brazil’s biggest export is soy beans. In the first nine months of 2008, Brazil exported US$5.1 billion in soy to China.

After soy came cellulose paste with exports of US$543.4 million and leather, with US$312.3 million. (macauhub)