The Secretary of State has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Chinese authorities last week in a move to strengthen links and boosting bilateral trade for organic products.
The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is designed to helpbuild trust and understanding between the UK and Chinese authorities with a view to identifying some of the practical barriers that currently exist.
The MOU is a high level agreement and has five elements to it:
1) Establish and participate in an annual programme of structured visits to discuss issues of mutual concern on technical matters in the operation of the respective control systems and to promote trade, in particular through working with their partners to bring together buyers and sellers of organic produce from both countries.
2) Work together to identify measures that could help efforts to accelerate the EU-China negotiations on equivalence.
3) Work together (and with certifying bodies) to identify key areas of demand in each others’ organic markets and to share this information with producers.
4) Identify ways to further the understanding of organic exporters in respect of the food regulations and legislation which is applicable to them, including which bodies are responsible for which aspects.
5) Establish a working group aimed at identifying the practical issues that are restricting trade between the two countries and drawing up a detailed and feasible action plan to help remove/lessen them.
NFU Comment
Tom Lander, Food Chain Adviser at the NFU covering organics said, "The NFU welcomes this positive news from Defra for UK organic producers. This memorandum is a step in the right direction for UK producers in enabling them to export their excellent organic products. However, it will need the continued efforts of Defra and UK organic stakeholders working in collaboration to overcome any outstanding issues before the full market potential can be achieved. The Chinese organic market is worth in the region of £4.6bn and offers fantastic export potential, especially given that the British brand is looked upon so favourably".