The Mexican Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food (SAGARPA) announced that it will organise a working trip to China from 7 to 11 December this year to promote agricultural products such as bananas, white corn and tobacco.
At a press conference, the head of the entity, José Calzada Rovirosa, pointed out that China imports 122,000 million dollars' worth of agricultural products, while it exports products valued at 70,000 million dollars, resulting in a deficit in its trade balance of more than 50,000 million dollars.
He said that while Mexico has a deficit balance with China, exporting 146 million dollars' worth of agro-food products and importing products valued at 500 million, Mexican exports grew by 25 percent in 2015 and imports decreased by 5 percent.
In that sense, Calzada Rovirosa stated that, in the next trade visit to China, they will meet with the ministers of agriculture and trade in order to open markets for a number of Mexican products, such as milk and berries, among others.
"A couple of years ago, exporting to China required health protocols to be negotiated for one product at a time, but thanks to the current relations between the two governments, today it is possible to negotiate five or six protocols, and that is a very important step," he explained.
One of the most noteworthy transactions expected is the export to China of 24 million tonnes of white corn, which are produced in northern states of the country, mainly in Sinaloa and Tamaulipas.
There are also opportunities with berries, a market that generated $ 600,000 for the country in 2014, as well as with avocados, whose exports to China have increased by more than 200 percent in a year.