China’s recent free-trade agreement with Australia will bring steep reductions in duty to confectionery, baked goods and processed foods, the state-owned Ecns news service has stressed in an editorial.
Citing a Beijing analyst, it said: “The agreement between the two nations covers a wide range of products and provides highly favourable policies which will make a huge difference to the related industries in China, especially in the agricultural and food markets.”
Australian dairy products including milk powder will also see gradual tax removals within nine to 11 years while tariffs for meat, wine, seafood, nuts, fruits and fresh vegetables will also be eliminated.
But the deal has its critics. A Canberra Times editorial called the so-called ChAFTA “half-baked” and “lopsided”, suggesting Prime Minister Abbott signed the treaty for Australia “before he had finished negotiating key aspects of it.”
China takes first step to normalise imports of Fukushima-hit produce
High-level talks took place on Friday as Japan attempted to sway China into easing the restrictions it implemented on food imports in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011.
A director general at the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries used the meeting in Beijing to stress the safety of Japanese food to a senior Chinese food inspection official, sources told the South China Morning Post.
Though the two countries have endured a frosty relationship recently as east Asia goes through a shift in economic and military might, the meeting between the officials is seen as a positive step in an improvement of relations between the two countries.
China banned all food imported out of 10 prefectures, including Miyagi, Nagano and Fukushima following the nuclear crisis.
SCMP reports that sales Japanese food products have dropped sharply in popularity at Chinese stores and in restaurants since the import ban went into effect.
The next step in the process to eventually resume imports is for higher-level meetings to take place.
China driving Asia-Pacific’s acidulants market
China is dominating Asia-Pacific’s acidulants market, which in turn has been witnessing sustained growth on the back of Asia’s middle-class boom.
The global market for acidulants is projected to reach $6.1bn by 2020, after a period of 7.6% growth.
In 2013, Asia-Pacific was the single biggest buyer for acidulants, with 32% of the global market. By 2020, this figure is projected to reach US $2.1bn following 8.8% growth.
Mordor Intelligence, which compiled the data, pointed to the Asian middle-class explosion for this rise.
It added: “The market finds restraints in the form of huge competition in pricing due to the large number of suppliers in the market.
“The key potential this industry sees is in the form of manufacturers adopting technologies to improve their production processes to meet the capacity requirements.”
Hong Kong lacking in awareness of weight conditions
Hongkongers have a misconception about body shapes and low awareness of obesity, according to a university study.
Of the male Hong Kong citizens who responded to the University of Hong Kong survey who said their body shape was standard, 30% were either overweight or obese.
With women, one-fifth who said they were fit were actually underweight.
The future looks like it will be in just as bad shape, after a different study from earlier this year found that a quarter of the 100,000 school pupils and university students it questioned were overweight or obese.