Published in FOCUS magazine in March 2014.

China is one of the top ten biggest food and drink markets for the UK – and its growing fast. In the first half of 2013, exports from the UK to China grew 126 per cent, reaching £102 million. In December, British meat producers accompanied David Cameron as part of his trade visit to China in an effort to promote the sale of various meats, including
chicken feet and pig trotters – both Chinese delicacies.

Chicken feet are fried, seasoned and eaten as a snack, while Chinese eat pig trotters in a stew, braised, or on a stick. Exporting these products is already big business for the US, Brazil and Argentina; for the UK, the market potential is huge. Exporting pig trotters alone could provide UK farmers with an additional £7.5 million a year. This is dependent, however, on whether the relevant permits and regulations will allow such sales in China in the future – an on-going area of discussion.

As the world leader in breeding economical pigs, Britain is in a unique position. Their meat is considered high quality and British pigs eat less, grow faster, and reproduce more quickly than Chinese pigs. These factors make a British pig half the cost of its Chinese cousin.

Other countries have already used their low production costs to compete in the Chinese market. In 2012, China imported 231,700 tons of chicken feet, worth £214 million; in the first three quarters of 2013, 169,000 tons came from the US alone. In the United States, chicken feet are worth around two cents, but the Chinese can sell them for U$S0.42. The UK selling
chicken feet to China could add an extra 15 per cent of revenue, or £1.50, per chicken in profit, to the already £4.4 billion UK poultry industry.

To find out more, click here.