"With a population of more than one billion people, there is tremendous market opportunity for Pennsylvania's diverse array of quality agricultural products in China," said PDA secretary Dennis Wolff.
During the trip the PDA participated in market briefings from the US Embassy and Consulate, and gained further perspective into the Asian market through a trade show in Hong Kong and meetings with buyers, importers and distributors in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen.
"Pennsylvania cannot ignore China's market potential for many of the same foods our own citizens have come to enjoy," said Wolff. "This trade mission was extremely important in providing exposure for the commonwealth's food products, while developing relationships with quality importers and distributors in China," he said.
A representative of the Food Marketing Cooperative of Pennsylvania joined John Jantos from the PDA's International Business Development Division, for the weeklong trip to Hong Kong and southern China that was largely funded by the US Departments of Agriculture.
"This trip was a great step forward in creating relationships that will soon add China to the growing list of countries purchasing Pennsylvania's agricultural products," said Wolff.
The Food Marketing Cooperative of Pennsylvania is the shared efforts of thirteen small to medium-sized food processors that believe leveraging their resources could help them reach new markets, such as China, that would have been unaccessible individually.