By Xuefei Chen Axelsson

Stockholm, Nov. 25(Greenpost)—Swedish Minister for Rural Affairs Sven-Erik Bucht is going to visit China in order to get the permit to export Swedish pork and other food product to China.

To pave the way to China, Bucht and Chinese Ambassador Chen Yuming and others held a seminar focusing on the conditions for the export of Swedish pork to China in Restaurant Formosa, in Stockholm recently.

”I have long been impressed by the Chinese cuisine. Sweden has paid great attention to use minimium antibiotics in raising animals, and Sweden has vast land for food products. So Swedish food production is focused on quality and sustainability,” said Bucht at the Lunch Seminar.

He said he will lead a delegation to China to see opportunities to increase the Swedish food exports to China. The aim is to obtain export permits for Swedish food to China. The trip will be organized by Business Sweden.

Chinese Ambassador Chen Yuming said he suggested that the delegation understand the Chinese market and relevant regulations. He believed this cooperation has great potential and cooperation in agriculture and food production can be mutually-beneficial. He likes to see more Chinese food products in Sweden too.

The Swedish side held that China is now the world’s largest food importer and imports a large part from the EU countries. But Sweden’s export to China only accounts for 0.8 percent of its total exports, mainly to neighboring countries and EU as well as America.   Thus, there is great potential for Sweden to catch up since Sweden is somewhat lagging behind in exporting to China in food products compared with its neighboring countries like Denmark.

Kött & Chark Företagen CEO Magnus Därth, HK Scan’s Magnus Sjöholm and Business Sweden’s Tobias Glittertind were also at the seminar.

In an interview with Greenpost.se, Därth said they had gotten the permit from Sweden to export pork to China, but it still takes time to get China permit. They hope that they can get it by the end of next year.

Chinese ambassador Chen Yuming is showing the Swedish Minister for Rural Affairs Sven-Erik Bucht how to use chopsticks.

After the seminar, participants tasted eight delicious dishes cooked by Chinese cook with Swedish pork and Chinese cooking methods—a perfect cooperation between China and Sweden.

The seminar was hosted jointly by Swedish KCF and Swedish Chinese Cuisine Association, a member of Sveriges Kinesiska Riksförbundet.

President Ye Keqing of Sveriges Kinesiska Riksförbundet, Counsellor Bai Xiaomei and Commercial Counsellor Han Xiaodong were among the participants during the seminar.

In another development,  Swedish Poultry Association is also considering to export Swedish chicken feet to China.

Chicken feet was considered as a beauty making delicacy for many Chinese women because one can taste the good taste without gaining any weight. It was also partly because chicken feet was very cheap in the past. Whether the Chinese women still think the same way, that needs to be discovered.

Another consideration to deal with China is to consider if there is any restrictions at the EU level.

(Photo by Anneli  Larsson)