BEIJING, China – There are expanding options for shipping foods from Michigan to China, but farmers and processors will need help from officials in both countries to make the process smooth, Agriculture Director Jamie Clover Adams told Gongwer News Service in an interview from China.

Clover Adams said the middle class in China, those with enough money to buy American goods, is growing, sitting now at about 400 million. Those customers are also interested in foreign produce.

“Anything that says ‘Made in USA’, Chinese people want imported goods,” she said. “They have some real food safety issues here.”

And she said there are some particular demands from the Chinese market. Among her first contacts on returning to the states will be with dairy farmers.

“There’s a real need for shelf stable milk,” she said.

There is also a market for dried fruit, she said.

The department will be working with farmers and farm organizations in the coming months to build both awareness of that market and ability to reach it, she said. But, beyond having hired an additional trade expert for the department, she said the plan for making that effort is still in development.

“I don’t have a game plan yet,” she said.

The potential for trade with China does, however, put some additional pressure on the department. “We need to do our job well and very efficiently,” she said. “If a company is trying to do what they need to do to product into that country, we don’t need to be a barrier to that.”

The department is charged with the inspections required to certify that foods are ready for export, and she said that process cannot add substantial costs to the exporter.

But she said there are also some hoops for both the state and the farmers. “In order for us to bring more of our fruit in, we’ve got to work with the federal government to get on the list,” she said.

Current trade agreements with China allow, for example, only for Washington state apples, she said.

Exporters will also need to find a trusted distributor in China, she said. Not only will they need help reaching appropriate markets, but they will need to ensure that their contracts are designed to ensure they get paid for their goods, she said.

This story was provided by Gongwer News Service. To subscribe, click on Gongwer.Com