Assistant Deputy agriculture secretary Sandy Chalmers says Heilongjiang Province wants to ramp up its own dairy processing industry. «They have a surplus of milk, and they’d like to make dairy products like dairy and cheese with their milk, so that can be an opportunity to sell processing equipment to the province as well.» That region is considered China’s Dairyland, and has long been a sister state of Wisconsin.
Provincial managers are looking to invest another $200 million dollars in ramping up their dairy processing industry. Heilongjiang is already a major purchaser of Wisconsin products like farm equipment, technical assistance, bovine genetics and animal feed.
Assistant Deputy agriculture secretary Sandy Chalmers says China is a market that producers need to take part in. «If every consumer in China ate one kilogram more cheese a year, that would be a huge increase in cheese consumption. So not to be a player when it comes to China is missing a huge opportunity.» Dairy products aren’t the only major export to China. Products in demand include hides and skins, whey, lactose, lumber, and ginseng. Total Wisconsin agricultural exports to China were valued at $222 million in 2015.
Source: WHBL