Everything but the squeal

The UK has agreed a £50m trade deal to sell British pork to China, the world's biggest market for pig meat.

Much of the pork will be in the form of parts that are popular in China but not with British diners, such as offal and trotters.

"China is the most lucrative grocery market in the world," said Agriculture Minister Jim Paice.

The deal comes after five years of talks, and negotiations over lamb and beef exports may soon follow.

This is just another signal of the growing emergence of China in the international commodity markets.

That influence continues to grow as Chinese import demand tied to population growth and increased annual income broadens into corn, meat, nuts, dairy and other food products.

It is the leading producer of many ag-ricultural commodities, supplying more than half of the world’s pork; one-third of the world’s horticultural products, rice and cotton; and close to 20 percent of the world’s wheat, corn and poultry.

With about one-fifth of the world’s population, China is also the largest consumer of many agricultural products; its current share of global pork consumption is 50 percent, 40 percent for cotton, 30 percent for rice and more than 25 percent for soybeans and soybean oil.

A burgeoning middle class population and a shift in dietary patterns will combine to produce widespread buying of agri products. Sales to this destination will become a rapidly increasingly important price determinant in the coming years.