Prosciutto di Parma to arrive in China soon
05/07/04
Good news for the Parma Ham Consortium: it seems that diplomatic negotiations for the opening of the Chinese market are coming to an end. During 2003 the market was officially opened. Since then negotiations have been under way to define operative requirements, including factory qualification procedures, that production companies interested in exporting Prosciutto di Parma into China have to follow in order to start up. Today, the Chinese Health Minister Li Changjiang arrived in Langhirano to visit a factory that produces Prosciutto di Parma, as part of a visit aimed at getting to know our district’s agricultural food sector. The Chinese delegation (made up of eight people including the Minister Li) was accompanied by Dr. Vincenzo Del Monaco from the Italian Embassy in Peking and by Dr. Russo from ICE in Roma. Dr. Borrello from the Ministry of Health (Gen. Mgr. Food Hygiene and Public Veterinary Health) was also present at the meeting. “Without doubt this visit to Parma represents a positive sign – said Alessandro Utini, president of the Consortium. The Chinese delegation has shown great interest in our production, this can only be a good omen for the definite opening of this new and important market, which we hope will happen in the next few months”. The Director of ASSICA, Gianni Gorreri, was also present at the meeting and afterwards accompanied the delegation to visit a pork factory. Prosciutto di Parma, leader of the European cured ham market with a production of 9 million pieces equal to a consumer value of €1,500 million, can be found on the tables of consumers in over 60 world markets, with more than 1,500,000 hams exported for a total export turnover of more than €400,000. The European market represents the main product channel; approximately 70% of export is in fact concentrated within the European Union, to which a further 5% should be added from European countries outside of the U.E. The rest of the world forms about 25% of total export; with three main markets among importing countries standing out in particular: The United States, Japan and Canada. Not forgetting the most recent success stories of the Consortium, the opening of the Singaporean, New Zealand, Lithuanian and Iceland markets.
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