Did you know that AgraKepak, the international trading division of Kepak Group, has been doing business in China and the rest of the Far East & South East Asia for 15 years?
The growing importance of the Asian markets to the business led Kepak to open its own office in China, located in Shanghai, in 2016. That office is managed & staffed by five Chinese nationals who intimately understand the needs of the Chinese market. AgraKepak’s China team has many years of experience in supplying the market with quality beef, pork, fish, lamb and poultry.
All of this means Kepak is well positioned to begin building a strong market presence for its beef and pork in China. Two of Kepak’s sites – Kepak Clonee and McCarren Meats (Kepak Cavan) – have been approved for exports to China and, in May 2018, signed a five-year distribution contract valued at €35m with China-based Esen Agro Group.
Kepak’s Managing Director, John Horgan, said he considers China to be a “vitally important market, particularly in the context of Brexit”.
“It will be a valuable market for selected meat cuts that are a popular mainstay of Chinese cuisine and we at Kepak look forward to building on already strong relationships to create further business opportunities there.
“The most recent approval of our pork site, McCarren Meats, is particularly welcome as trading in China is an integral part of a successful EU based pork business,” Mr Horgan said.
“It is a testament to the quality of the meat we are producing here in Ireland that the Chinese authorities have authorised some of our sites for exports.
“The opportunity that the Chinese market represents for us as an Irish meat producer and food innovator is incredible and we look forward to building on our already strong relationships there to create further business opportunities in the months and years ahead,” he concluded.