MEXICO: Mexican Agriculture Minister Jose Calzada Rovirosa said the Latin American country is eyeing expanding the scope of its farm produce exports to China, local media reported here the other day.
Rovirosa, who arrived in China on Saturday for a working visit, will meet with various government officials in China to “review progress in (sanitary) protocols for the exportation, in the short and medium term, of powdered milk and baby formula, tobacco and white corn, and to open the market to bananas,” Mexico’s daily La Jornada said.
Calzada will also take part in a business meeting with Chinese importers to explore the potential opportunities in the Chinese market for Mexico’s agricultural sector, the daily said.
After arriving in Beijing, Calzada told Mexico’s state news agency Notimex that the sector’s trade balance with China “is very positive for Mexico.”
“With the quality we have, and the demand that currently exists in China, we will certainly be able to establish very good synergy with this important country,” added Calzada, whose ministry also oversees livestock and fisheries.
Now, Mexico is seeking to double its food exports to China next year, as it was announced by the government on Monday December 7th .
The Latin American country is expected to export 290 million U.S. dollars worth of food products to China in 2016, an increase of around 150 million dollars compared with that of this year, according to the Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fishing and Food (Sagarpa).
The increase will generate more than 5,000 jobs in the primary sector, Jose Calzada Rovirosa, head of Sagarpa, said in a press release.
