Golden Ontario Products received a license to export beef products to China
By Diego Flammini
News Reporter
Farms.com
A Mount Forest, Ont. meat processor recently received a license to export to one of Asia’s most lucrative markets.
Golden Ontario Products will soon be able to export its beef to China, a country that consumes about 28 per cent of the world’s meat supply, according to Time.
China is known for having very strict import regulations, so having access to that market is an incredible opportunity, says Nancy Kinglsey-Hu, president of Golden Ontario Products.
“You can’t just export to China, you need permission, so this has been a collaboration between the two countries,” she told The Wellington Advertiser. “There are 1.3 billion people in China, (so) the ultimate goal is to process 80 beef a day.”
Chinese market access also means Golden Ontario Products is in a position to expand the size of its facility. Eventually, the company plans to increase its 30-person workforce to upwards of 150 people, she said.
And Ontario’s beef producers could benefit as well.
Canada exported $228 million worth of beef and veal products to China in 2015, according to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.
And more access to China means more opportunities for the nearly 500 beef farmers in Perth-Wellington to profit, according to Rainer Knickmann, a representative of C&D (Canada) Import and Export Inc.
“(Golden Ontario Products) is going to buy cattle locally as farmers come to understand (the market opportunity) is here,” he told The Wellington Advertiser. “This is going to bring foreign money to our farmers."