In today’s talking points: Chinese agribusiness giant New Hope plans to expand; Australian wines trying to move into China; Sino Marine to launch its first shipment of live exports; China’s Hunan Dakang still plans to snap up overseas agriculture assets.
Chinese agribusiness giant New Hope plans to expand
The Chinese company New Hope plans to install its first soybean crushing plant in Hebei province, with 51 per cent ownership of the project. The soy crushing industry in China is huge, with China being the world’s top soybean buyer. The industry has grown exponentially in recent years with demand for soybean coming predominantly from rising demand from breeders of livestock. Last year over 70 million tones of soybean were crushed, which global opinions believe is far below China’s capacity. With this in mind, New Hope plans to expand abroad, to reach further than existing overseas offices in Australia and Singapore. This international strategy hopes to allow New Hope to build factories in smaller, developing countries while focusing on partnerships with developed neighbours.
Read more at Reuters
Australian wines trying to move into China
It has always been known that Chinese, like Australians, enjoy a good wine. At the moment, Australian-listed wine producer and exporter, Dawine, is currently hoping to move into the Chinese wine market while the opportunity exists. According to market research, over 48 million upper-middle class Chinese choose to drink imported wines, a staggering 250% increase since 2010. Forecasts say that figure should grow another almost 350% in the next 10 years. With China being one of the biggest export markets in the world, Australian wine companies are hoping to be some of the first to enter the market for imported wines. Dawine is aiming to be the facilitator of choice when the market starts to grow.
Read more at Weekly Times Now
Sino Marine to launch its first shipment of live exports
An Australia-China joint venture in creating a livestock supply chain has spent $50 million in the past 12 months. This move is being led by the previous managing director of Welland rural exports, and now director of Harmony Agriculture and Food (HAAFCO), Steve Meerwald. By purchasing grazing properties in Victoria and Western Australia, they aim to create a livestock supply chain to target global markets including China. HAAFCO has partnered with Chinese company Hopshun Australia which is owned by major project investment and trading company Dalian Hesheng Holdings. Hopshun which are also under consortium called Sino Marine, have purchased two vessels and have converted them into ships to transport livestock. These vessels can reportedly hold up to 5,500 head of feeder cattle or 20,000 sheep. MV Yangtze Harmony is expected to arrive in Australia later this month, where the first ship is due to be shipped to the middle east.
Read more at ABC
China’s Hunan Dakang still plans to snap up overseas agriculture assets
Ambitious Chinese livestock and grains firm Hunan Dakang International Food & Agriculture Co. is still intent on buying assets overseas. According to relevant person, Dakang is working on a five-year plan that includes setting up a network of New Zealand and Australia dairy farming, buying hog farms in Europe and scooping up more grains from South America. They want to connect global resources with the Chinese market. Dakang is the latest Chinese agricultural merchant seeking to snap up global supplies of grains and meat to feed the world’s second-largest economy’s population. China accounts for more than half of the world’s hog breeding and pork consumption volume. They said that by around 2021, the company wants to control 20 million tonnes of grains in Brazil, the world’s top soybean exporter – about 10 percent of projected Brazilian corn and soybean output this year. Despite several rejections, Dakang is still considering acquiring other dairy farms in Australia and setting up a food distribution network there.
Read more at Nasdaq