New trade rules proposed for PSC food products

IPIM executive director Glória Batalha

The Macau Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM) hopes that a breakthrough can occur regarding goods’ transactions from Portuguese- speaking countries to mainland China within this year, IPIM executive director Glória Batalha Ung said yesterday, on the sidelines of the celebration ceremony of the two-year anniversary of the Portuguese-speaking Countries Food Products Exhibition Centre.

According to Ung, many food products from Portuguese- speaking countries are already available for purchase in mainland China.

However, the Macau trade authority hopes to expand the number of avenues for traders of these products. In particular, the Macau government expects food products from these countries to directly reach mainland China’s business operators online.

“There are no problems for these goods, which are in the tax-free warehouse in mainland China, to be used in e-commerce. We hope that there can be a breakthrough this year, in terms of B2C,” said Ung, adding “we started negotiations last year.”

Up until now, food products – including wine, chocolate cookies, and olive oil – from Portuguese-speaking countries have registered strong sales in mainland China, Ung revealed.

“We have been discussing a quarantine and inspection method,” said Ung, indicating that the Macau government is expending efforts to make it possible for these goods to only go through the government authority’s inspections and other administrative procedures.

Regarding the food exhibition center, so far, over 25,000 food products are included in the Portuguese-speaking countries’ food products online system.

“Many of them are from Portugal and Brazil,” Ung said, “36 percent are products from Portugal.”

Over 3,000 food products have been collected at the exhibition center, with over 1,200 products displayed daily.

In total, Macau has seven Portuguese-speaking countries’ food products in exhibition centers; mainland China has 23.

“It is not just about the products themselves. There is also information and stories about the producers,” Ung explained, adding that all these aspects are included in the food’s descriptions.

This year, IPIM will launch a promotional program related to offline services concerning these products.

Promotional activities in local communities will also be arranged in Macau. In the mainland, business-matching fairs have been planned, together with exhibitions.

Regarding these promotional activities in local communities, Ung noted that a number of activities, including cooking classes featuring Portuguese-speaking countries’ styled cuisine, would be offered to local communities.

During the ceremony, three business agreements were signed among a number of business operators.

Sam Zhong, representative of Qiaqun Imported Commodity Street, one of the companies that signed business agreements yesterday, said that Macau, through its Portuguese-speaking countries’ food products showrooms, can provide companies with the latest information about recent goods.

When talking about the mainland market, Zhong said that “in mainland China, the market share of wines from Portugal is growing year by year because its quality and prices are competitive.”

The first Portuguese-speaking Countries’ Food Products Exhibition Center opened on March 31 2016, in the Tap Seac Square business centre, occupying an area of 390 square meters.