China Starts Using Its First In-land Port for Meat Import in Henan Province

1. In China, meat must be imported through AQSIQ-designated ports. So far, there are a total of 45 ports allowed, most of which are set along the coast, river and border regions. 2. Two ports in Henan province (located at Zhengzhou and Luohe) have been approved by AQSIQ to import meat in this Aug.

The 26^th Oct was the important day for Henan province as it symbolized the first use of China’s first in-land meat import port designated by AQSIQ. 3.032 tons of chilled fresh meat from Australia arrived at the Zhengzhou Xinzheng International Airport. There will be 150 tons of such meat shipped to the airport over the next several weeks.

Henan adopts a “one port, two inspection areas” model. The two areas are located separately in Zhengzhou Airport Comprehensive Economic Experimental Zone and Luohe Shuanghui Group Logistics Park. It is equipped with the best facilities for meat import in China. Meanwhile, measures such as centralized information declaration, integration of CIQ inspection and customs clearance and support of multi-model transport are designed to reduce complex formalities during food import and lessen logistics cost. With such a meat port in place, meat can arrive at Henan directly and be distributed to other areas much faster than before. In the past meat could only be imported from designated ports in Shanghai, Qingdao or Tianjin, which is time consuming and requires high logistics costs. In addition, it will also boost the development of building a high quality food cold chain.

The port has already entered into cooperation with several big food companies such as Shuanghui (China’s biggest meat processing base in Luohe), Zhongpin (located at Xuchang, a city near to Luohe) and Beijing Inno-Olypic Group, planning to purchase meat from 23 countries including Australia, America, Demark, Mexico, etc.

General meat import procedure

Meat will be transferred to the Zhengzhou inspection area after it arrives at the airport. CIQ officers will then conduct an on-site inspection. If the consignment complies with Chinese regulations the meat will be unloaded and moved to the designated refrigeration warehouse. CIQ officers will take samples for lab testing. If issues are uncovered during testing the meat will be distributed and placed on the market. Meanwhile, importers should submit all required documents for CIQ inspection and quarantine.