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Canadian wheat field rolls into the horizon.
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Mr. Shi Haiguang, general manager of the Canadian Wheat Board Beijing Branch
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Beijing St. Paul’s Cakes is a local bakery that offers delicious
and healthy cakes and pastries to its customers. The main ingredient
in the company’s success, its owners believe, is the premium-quality,
high protein wheat flour that they import from Canada.
According to Zeng Liying, vice president of China’s State
Grain Administration, China has been importing Canadian wheat
since 1960. In the past 40-odd years, China has bought significant
quantities of Canadian wheat – at the end of 2004, the total
import volume tallied up to 115 million tons, worth US $13.8 billion.
The Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) offers advanced technical support
and after-sales services for its Chinese clients and copartners,
such as bakery management training courses. This helps to cement
good business relationships between the Chinese customers and
their Canadian suppliers.
As one of the world’s biggest grain companies, the CWB is
to team up with the China Cereals, Oilseeds and Foodstuffs Corporation
(COFCO) to establish a technical and training center in Beijing.
The center should open in April 2007, and it will support the
development of China’s milling and food processing industries.
“Because of the economy’s booming growth and increased
demand for premium-quality wheat-based foods, China is becoming
a more important market for Canadian wheat,” said Adrian
Measner, president and CEO of CWB. “This technical center
will supply Chinese wheat processing businesses with the know-how
they need to make the highest quality products, and western Canadian
farmers will also benefit from China’s increased demand for
grassland wheat.”
Liu Fuchun, president of COFCO said the center is a natural result
of the long-standing relationship between COFCO and the CWB. The
center will offer training courses, educational seminars, technical
exchanges and technical support for CWB customers.
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