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Following is a question by the Hon Tommy Cheung and a written reply by the Secretary for Food and Health, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today (January 23):
Question:
Hong Kong has been importing chilled pork from the Mainland since August 2006, but the prices of pork have continued to rise sharply since last year. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) in each month last year, of the average wholesale price of chilled pork, how the increases in such average wholesale prices compare with those in the average wholesale prices of fresh pork for the same period, the respective average quantities of pork imported from the Mainland and other regions, as well as the percentage of chilled pork in the total pork consumption in Hong Kong;
(b) of the current number of chilled pork processing plants on the Mainland permitted to supply chilled pork to Hong Kong; and whether the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department has deployed staff to inspect such processing plants since the importation of chilled pork from the Mainland; if so, the number and the outcome of the inspections conducted; and
(c) whether the Government will shortly discuss increasing the number of the above processing plants and the supply of chilled pork with the State General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine; if so, of the relevant details and the expected increase in supply next year; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) The Administration does not keep statistics on the wholesale prices of chilled pork but we have information on the import prices of chilled pork.
The monthly import prices of chilled pork and the wholesale prices of fresh pork in 2007 are shown in Table 1.
A comparison of the monthly changes in the import prices of chilled pork and the wholesale prices of fresh pork in 2007 is shown in Table 2.
According to the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD), during the period January to November 2007, an average of about 1 000 tonnes of chilled pork were imported into Hong Kong from the Mainland and other regions each month, of which about 830 tonnes (83%) were from the Mainland, about 150 tonnes (15%) from Thailand, and the remaining 20 tonnes (2%) from countries including Australia, France, Canada, the United States, Italy, Japan and the Netherlands.
During the period January to November 2007, chilled pork accounted for an average monthly share of about 4% in the local pork market (including frozen, chilled and fresh pork).
(b) Since August 2006 when importation of chilled pork from the Mainland started, a total of four Mainland chilled pork processing plants in Guangdong and Shenzhen have obtained approval for supplying chilled pork to Hong Kong. To ensure their compliance with health standards, officers of the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) have paid seven visits to these plants to inspect their facilities, modes of operation, production process and hygiene monitoring system. All hygiene assessment results were satisfactory.
(c) The Administration and the State General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) have joined hands to work out a set of stringent inspection and quarantine requirements on chilled pork imported into Hong Kong. Slaughtering and processing plants in the Mainland must obtain a certificate of hygiene registration from the China National Regulatory Commission for Certification and Accreditation (CNCA) for export of processed chilled pork products. In addition, pig farms supplying live pigs for slaughtering are subject to the supervision of the local inspection and quarantine authorities where they are located.
On the supply front, the Administration has reached consensus with the AQSIQ that the supply of chilled pork to Hong Kong can be increased according to market needs. The number of processing plants for supplying chilled pork to Hong Kong can also be increased subject to their meeting the inspection and quarantine requirements, with a view to ensuring an adequate supply of chilled pork to Hong Kong.
Ends/Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Issued at HKT 12:07
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