China's Growing Boom

Dated: 1 October 2007
By Rabbi Donneal Epstein, Head (Asian Desk), OU Kosher

The spectacular growth of the Chinese economy has been news for some time. The real story is that it is about to grow even bigger. This year China will overtake the US as the world’s second-largest exporter. Many experts have expressed the opinion that next year it will overtake Germany as the world’s number one exporter.
The growth has brought on even more foreign investment. To encourage this, the Chinese government has invested heavily in developing infrastructure, to the extent that China, with its 486 airports, is now one of the easiest countries in the world to travel around. And the easier it is to get around, the easier it is to do business.
One of the main areas of Chinese exporting enterprise affects kosher consumers, namely, food additives. These additives are substances added to food either to preserve flavor, or improve its taste and appearance. Food additives, for example salt and vinegar, have been used since ancient times. Over the last century many more have been discovered, of both natural and
artificial origin. There are many hundreds, if not thousands, of food additives on the market. The following is a partial list of categories of food additives:
acids, anti-caking agents, antioxidants, antifoams, bulking agents, flavors, flavor enhancers, flour-treatment agents, preservatives, and thickeners.

China’s new role
Due to China’s economic prowess as well as its genius in creating efficient mass products, it is becoming the major source of supply in the food-additive arena. It has, moreover, increased its monitoring of product safety in order to maintain a qualitative edge in the market.
Amongst the almost 300 OU-certified plants we have in China, several are located in the lovely province of Jiangsu, located in the middle of China’s Eastern coast line along the lower part of the famed and fabled Yangtze River. It is a region known for its lakes and rivers, as well as mountains. It is also very historic.

New market demands
One of the “smaller” cities in China is Wuxi, with a mere 4,000,000 inhabitants. Wuxi is also the home of three OU-certified food additive plants: DSM Citric Acid, Wuxi Bio Products and Wuxi-Syder Bio Products.
Another area in which China is growing by leaps and bounds is the dehydrated-vegetable business. Dehydration techniques have improved dramatically over the last decade or so. The old fashioned method left approximately 30 percent of the moisture in the dehydrated items. Newer methods have pushed these numbers down dramatically. The drier the item, the longer the shelf-life.
Chinese companies have been very involved in developing and trying new methods on an industrial scale. The results have been dazzling, as the world market cannot purchase Chinese dehydrated vegetables fast enough.
The Eastern Province of Shandong, besides being historic and attractive, also hosts some two dozen OU-certified dehydrated vegetable facilities. In the city of Qingdao alone there are 13 and in the city of Linyi there are eight. Relevant data shows that the economy of the province is keeping its momentum, especially Qingdao, where attractive incentives attract foreign investment.

Conclusion
Just over a decade ago, the concept of kosher was almost unheard of in China. Today however, it is almost a household word in the food industry. From Qingdao Huajie Food we hear, “It seems that we have already entered the gate of world buyers…Our export value is increasing rapidly since certification.” As the Chinese market continues to grow, the OU’s goal is to be there to help it along.

Source

See also:

HALAL FOOD: Kitchen of the World Goes Halal