May 10

May 10, 2017

USDA Ag Trade Office

We took a 45 minute bus ride to the China Construction Bank through a government owned tunnel under the harbor to get to the US Consulate. This was not an embassy because it is not in the capital of the country, but they serve the same purpose. Consultor General, Bob, Foreign Services Officer from Corona, South Dakota started off our presentation with a briefing of his work and his career path. Our time at the consulate continued with a presentation from Melinda Metter, Director of Foreign Ag about Hong Kong and Macau and the Dynamic Markets for US Exports. The USDA in Hong Kong gives the US better access with trade to Central China. Hong Kong imports 95% of their products in small amounts because storage is extremely expensive because real estate is minimal in Hong Kong. Everything is built upward instead of outwards. Melinda works a lot with the awareness of safety and products and works with promoting US food items. Hong Kong is the center of the heart of Asia being five hours away from half the world's population consisting of over 200 islands and Hong Kong is the US's 4th largest export of ag products.  One interesting fact is that the #1 US export in dollars to Hong Kong is not beef or pork, but fish and seafood products!  While our beef exports are very large to Hong Kong, we export twice as much fish and seafood to Hong Kong. 

We then went to the HOFEX International Food Exposition which comes to Hong Kong every two years and is the largest food trade show in Hong Kong with over 38,000 exhibitors. Most students spent their time in the 3rd hall engaging in conversations with exhibitors from across the globe and trying different food products from Japan, Australia, Germany, and the US. Many of the products that the exhibitors were showing were dairy and beef products, but just about every food that you could imagine was there.  One of the most surprising items was Kangaroo meat, which was a favorite and tasted like a very tender steak!  By doing well at this exposition, a company can open big doors into Asia.  The US Meat Export Federation was very visible promoting US beef, pork, and lamb.

Lunch was served in a very elegant setting with many dishes consisting of pork, shrimp, and dumplings. No one had the honor of sucking out chicken eyeballs at today's meal.  

We continued our day to the Ocean Park amusement park and enjoyed incredible views from cable cars and the edges of roller coasters soaking up the sun and combatting jet lag. We were the center of many photos for other tourists and locals which made for a fun interaction with other nationalities.

We finished out the evening at the Happy Valley Race track and Jockey Club. It was built by the Brits and is over 125 years old.  Races run every 30 minutes and it is the only place to legally gamble in Hong Kong. Our tour guide said this is the most interesting and up close experience for horse racing she knows because the race track is so close and transparent.  It was an incredible facility and people from every walk of life were there.  It was kind of a combination of the Kentucky Derby and the Minnesota State Fair! 

Last night we had an example of how small a world it is as we walked through the Hong Kong airport.  A young man saw some of us in Jackrabbit clothing and ran up to us.  He’s an SDSU alum and has worked for Daktronics for the last 13 years in Hong Kong, and visited with us for a while! 

 HOFEX

 

 Iberico ham

 

 Jockey Club

 

 Kangaroo

 

 Melinda

 



 Ocean Park

 

 Race track