Could Be More Than Raw Logs, Oil Going To China
Prince George, B.C. – Okanagan cherries are one step closer to being on the shelves of luxury food markets in cities like Beijing and Shanghai, as co-operative efforts between the governments of British Columbia and Canada continue to make progress in accessing the Chinese marketplace.
An agreement signed between the governments of Canada and China in Beijing today commits the two countries to work on access for a number of specific Canadian foods, including cherries. British Columbia produced 94 per cent of Canada’s sweet cherries in 2010, with top export markets including Taiwan and Hong Kong.
The Province is focusing on building export markets for B.C. food as part of the BC Jobs Plan, as international consumers look to B.C. for high-quality and trusted foods. Premier Christy Clark discussed opportunities for B.C. food producers while leading the Province’s largest ever jobs and trade mission to Asia in November, 2011.
In July 2011, Canada’s first dedicated cargo flights to Mainland China began from YVR to Shanghai. The three-times-per-week flights typically deliver B.C. seafood and could also carry cherries and other fresh foods. B.C. has set record exports of agrifood products to China in each of the last three years, with exports topping $100 million for the first time ever in 2010.
Christine Dendy with the Okanagan Kootenay Cherry Growers Association says "We are very pleased to see this progress on access to China for B.C. cherries. A final agreement has the potential to immediately garner $10 million or more in cherry sales to China."
Comments
Couldn’t these cherries be processed here instead of being shipped “raw” to China?
Sure! But if the end consumer wants fresh cherries they must be shipped fresh, like blueberries and strawberries.
“In July 2011, Canada’s first dedicated cargo flights to Mainland China began from YVR to Shanghai. The three-times-per-week flights typically deliver B.C. seafood and could also carry cherries and other fresh foods.”
But Prince George has a runway we want that plane.
The Chinese are smart and will demand Cherry tree seedlings. Or just plant all the seed they get.
“Couldn’t these cherries be processed here instead of being shipped “raw” to China?
LOL ……
Whenever I buy cherries, I pop them into my mouth, savor their taste, and start the processing by chewing and swallowing.
A few hours later, voila … the City does the rest at its Landsdown processing plant.
The Chinese are like me. They prefer doing their own processing.
;-)
I wonder what the per pound cost is to fly cherries to china?? Going to be heavily subsidized or very expensive!!
We have a runway, but we have no fresh but quickly perishable products anywhere near us.
We used to ship fresh trout in tanker trucks from a small trout farm on Cranbrook Hill to the GVRD many moons ago.
I think it does not exist anymore, likely for some obvious reasons.
Oh, we also used to ship out mushrooms, I think. Maybe that business is still going if it has not been flooded out.
We could probably do fiddleheads. Also blueberries and sakatoons. Very short duration. Would have to fill the rest of the year in with snowballs. :-)
“Going to be heavily subsidized or very expensive!!”
China has over a billion people. Over a million of them are millionaires.
We need to remember that we are looking at a totally different magnitude when we deal with a population that size and a population in a fast growing economy.
If the market is so big why aren’t we there already? I suppose the prov govt hasn’t subsidized the shipping yet?? They grow cherries in China, how do you suppose we can compete with their domestic producers without heavy subsidies???? Something to ponder on. How much per tonne to ship from the OK valley to China?
Yes, they grow cherries in China.
They also grow strawberries in Canada.
During the traditional “local” strawberry season, we still get them from California in many of the stores.
It is more exotic to have cherries from BC, especially since sons and cousins and nephews write to the well off family in China that sends money for those $150,000 cars how wonderful the cherries from BC are.
Just go with the flow. We have the product, they have the customers, we need to work on the trade imbalance with China.
If our cherries become too expensive for us, we’ll have to import more from Washington State.
“If the market is so big why aren’t we there already?”
Well, all things have to have a start. Nixon started the process by playing ping pong.
We play follow the leader, so we follow the USA. :-)
I can’t believe we’re going to export our cherry pie filling and cherry jam jobs to China. What’s next? Are we going to put our bakers out of business by exporting unprocessed wheat too?
You know, it is because we have been sending cherry jam to China, that they have asked if they could pretty please have a few bushels of fresh cherries.
They figure if the jam tastes so good, fresh, unprocessed cherries must be really good.
And no sugar added to boot.
Bakers? Millers. Wonderful families. So friendly and helpful. Always a smile to share with us.
Export of fruit and nuts from BC to all destinations in 2011 amounted to $236 Million dollars. China’s portion was $2 Million.
Seems we have a lot of room for improvement to China, however the question is, how much more can we produce??
It would appear (if we use our politicians as a gauge) that there is not a shortage of **nuts** in the Province.
:-) ^5
I got cherry trees in my yard. They grow great in PG if you have lots of sun and sandy soil in your yard. Usually rip around mid summer.
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