New export hub fast tracks exports to Chinese market
Reprint from http://www.stuff.co.nz/
A tamper-proof tag scannable with a cell phone will allow Chinese consumers to check the authenticity of New Zealand food products, such as baby formula.
A new Christchurch-based export service is helping New Zealand exporters get faster access to the China market.
The Australia and New Zealand Export Hub has partnered with the China Certification and Inspection Group (CCIC), the Chinese agency which monitors food safety and traceability, and issues export and import certificates.
Hub general manager Brent Thornton said the company had achieved a world first with the opening of its new $5.9 million Wigram warehouse supervised by CCIC.
Sensitive products, such as meat or infant formula, could be tested at an accredited New Zealand laboratory before export, instead of when they arrived in China.
Thornton said this lowered the risk of costly holdups at the Chinese border if shipments were delayed for inspections and testing, or rejected because of simple labelling errors.
“It cuts seven to nine weeks off the time it takes to get through the system.
“Last year seven 40 foot containers of UHT milk worth $1 million failed – nothing to do with food safety, it was to do with labelling. It couldn’t go anywhere and it had to be destroyed.”
The Australia and New Zealand Export Hub plans to open another much larger warehouse in Auckland where it is operating from temporary premises. It also has a CCIC approved warehouse in Melbourne and one on the way in Los Angeles.
The hub is funded by Christchurch company Best Health Products Ltd, and director James Gu said their first shipment of Nuztri infant formula went through testing and certification here late last year.
Within 48 hours of arriving in China the shipment was with the buyer.
Gu said the hub’s CCIC system included application of a tamper proof tag with a cell phone scannable QR code which allowed Chinese consumers to check the authenticity of the product through the CCIC website.
High value New Zealand products such as baby formula or manuka honey were more like to be counterfeited, so proof of origin was important for customers.
“They are much more sophisticated than consumers here, they check everything online before they decide to buy.”
Under the scheme, once a comparison test was done for the first shipment from a particular manufacturer, no compulsory tests for further shipments were required, Gu said.
“[At present] every single shipment has to be tested, so there lots of duplication, and that’s where there’s such a delay.”
The hub was targeting small to medium sized New Zealand and Australian companies that lacked the expertise or connections to market into China.
Gu said the company’s service fee was “modest” and similar to what a customs broker would charge.
(Original article: http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/80619033/New-export-hub-fast-tracks-exports-to-Chinese-market)
