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Following is a question by the Hon Fred Li and a written reply by the Secretary for Food and Health, Dr York Chow, in the Legislative Council today (June 25):
Question:
It has been reported that when the Hong Kong Agriculture Special Area Corporation (the Corporation), formed by pig farmers in Hong Kong, was appointed as the third agent for live pig supply to Hong Kong by the Ministry of Commerce (MoC) last October, it had undertaken to set up pig farms on the Mainland to raise pigs for supply to Hong Kong. However, to date, the Corporation has yet to honour its undertaking and has only adopted the same practice as that of the other two agents i.e. acquiring pigs from farms for supply to Hong Kong. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether:
(a) it has approached MoC to ascertain how the latter will deal with the Corporation's failure to supply live pigs raised at its own farms to Hong Kong as undertaken so far;
(b) it knows the reasons why the Corporation has not yet supplied live pigs raised at its own farms to Hong Kong;
(c) it has provided assistance to the Corporation in setting up pig farms on the Mainland; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
(d) it has studied whether that the wholesale price of pigs supplied to Hong Kong has not dropped since the introduction of the third live pig agent is attributable to the Corporation's failure to supply to Hong Kong live pigs raised at its own farms; if the study result is in the affirmative, of the solutions in place; if the study result is in the negative, the justifications for that?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) In July last year, the Ministry of Commerce (MoC) and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government agreed to open up the market for supply of live pigs to Hong Kong. Guangnan Hong Company Limited was appointed as the second live pig agent in addition to the existing one, i.e. Ng Fung Hong Limited. It was also agreed in principle that a third agent be appointed. The objective of opening up the market was to increase the number of live pig agents, so as to provide additional channels through which live pigs could be supplied to Hong Kong. Whether the newly appointed agent would set up pig farms in the Mainland has no relation with the opening up of the market.
In fact, when the China Chamber of Commerce for Import/Export of Foodstuffs, Native Produce and Animal By-products gave notice to invite application for appointment as the third agent to import live pigs to Hong Kong in last August, the setting up of pig farms in the Mainland by the relevant agent was not included in the specified application requirements.
In October last year, on the recommendation of the China Chamber of Commerce of Import/Export of Foodstuffs, Native Produce and Animal By-Products, the MoC decided to appoint the Hong Kong Agriculture Special Zone Limited (ASZ) as an agent to import live pigs to Hong Kong .
(b) Prior to being appointed as the third live pig agent, ASZ has already set up pig farms in Shaoguan of Guangdong Province. These pig farms have started to produce live pigs.
According to our understanding, the production scale of these pig farms is being expanded to meet the eligibility criteria for being registered farms for the supply of live pig to Hong Kong (annual production capacity be over 10 000 heads). Whether ASZ will export the live pigs raised in its Mainland pig farms to Hong Kong in future is simply a commercial decision.
(c) In September last year, the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) arranged an exchange session between the Guangdong Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau of the State General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine and Hong Kong pig farmers. During the session, the farmers were briefed on the requirements that must be met for setting up pig farms in the Mainland, including those for food safety, production scale, bio-security and environmental requirements. In April this year, AFCD officers also joined the trade in a visit to the Mainland to learn more about the progress on the setting up of pig farms in the Mainland by ASZ, and to exchange views with local municipal officials on setting up pig farms in the Mainland by Hong Kong pig farmers.
(d) The supply of live pig remained stable recently. In May, the number of live pigs supplied to the market was around 4 200 a day and the average auction price was about $1,400 per 100 catty. The live pigs are imported from the registered farms for supplying live pigs to Hong Kong located in different Mainland provinces. The price of live pigs is affected by factors such as supply and demand, production costs, the wholesale price of live pigs in the Mainland and transportation costs. It is not necessarily related to whether agents have set up pig farms in the Mainland.
Ends/Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Issued at HKT 15:53
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