Urbanisation has happened at a rate never seen before in China. For a growing middle class and their families, food safety is still one of the main concerns, particularly for those with young children. Thus, many urban residents now seek out alternative food sources.
As China’s food and beverage market continues to grow. To address remaining concerns over the country’s food safety issues, the Chinese government has been restructuring its mechanisms to supervise food production and distribution over the past two years. On October 1st 2015, the amended Food Safety Law (FSL) entered into force, which is considered as the most stringent Food Safety Law ever passed in China.
Organic food and imported products from the European Union countries have risen in popularity. In cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, the number of specialist and boutique food shops selling organic food is growing, especially among the Chinese middle class and expatriate community who have disposable income and are willing to pay a premium for good-quality, safe food.
In this context, the EU SME Centre will host a webinar to answer key questions faced by SMEs planning to sell their organic products in China, for example:
About the Speaker
Kirk Barlow, Managing Director, Sown Solutions.
Kirk Barlow has lived and worked in China since 2009 and is very knowledgeable of the F&B import and distribution processes . During this time he has developed a strong knowledge of the Organic Food market through developing direct sales channels between organic producers, wholesalers, restaurants/hotels, and downstream production companies.
Kirk owns and operates his own company which provides sales and management support to organic farms in China. This involves developing agreements with five star hotels, mid-high tier restaurants, juice processing plants, and using a number of online sales techniques. As an extension to this, his company provides advice to small-holder producers from abroad who are looking to export products to China.
From 2010-2013 Kirk was a Consultant within the Global Strategy Group of KPMG China where he worked with both new and existing companies in China. In November 2015, he co-hosted the International Community Supported Agriculture Conference in Beijing through receiving sponsorship from the Shunyi (Beijing) Government which saw over 700 farmers and representatives from 28 countries attend. The President of IFOAM was one of 50 presenters, which also included a contingent from IFOAM Asia and FAO Asia.
You can find the recorded video on Youtube:
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