SA trade wins from China visit
BEHIND layers of ritual and formality, the Chinese province of Shandong welcomed South Australian business and government leaders with warmth and an eye for a mutually beneficial deal.
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“HAVE we signed any new deals? Actually, we’ve already been paid.”
That was how Pasquale Catania from Campbelltown trading company Red Lion summed up how he’d gone on the South Australian trade mission to the Chinese sister province of Shandong.
Red Lion, which sells wine, olive oil, honey and seafood, was paid immediately for a half-container of wine and was negotiating on the next three containers, he said.
“We’ve been dealing with the Chinese marketplace for about three years now but with this delegation we’ve had by far the best cooperation for our business,” he said..
“The government-to-government connection has been absolutely priceless. This is how business is done.”
His business partner, Dominique Clemente was equally pleased with their work.
“We believe that this is a foundation for generational growth,” Mr Clemente said. “It has set up our business for the next 15 to 20 years.”
Nor were Red Lion the only ones to come away with money in the bank.
Tuna producer Hagen Stehr said it wasn’t easy to do business in China but he had secured his first sale into the country and was moving ahead with a second.
“That (second) company has given us a substantial amount as a deposit,” he said.
The trade mission last week involved more than 250 people visiting the north-eastern province and was the largest ever business delegation from SA to anywhere in the world.
Led by Premier Jay Weatherill, three state ministers and Adelaide Lord Mayor Martin Haese, it was welcomed by the highest levels of government in Shandong, one of China’s richest provinces and home to about 100 million people.
Shandong’s vice-governor, international relations and trade, Xia Geng, said the mature economy of SA could complement the rapid growth of his region.
“We hope to take SA as a gateway for Shandong’s companies to enter into the whole of Australia,” he told The Advertiser. “The businesses and institutions established by Shandong in SA could serve as good platforms for us to conduct cooperation with other states in your country.
“And Shandong is an important portal for you to enter northern China.”
During the mission, memorandums of understanding were signed across several government sectors and between business organisations.
SA companies held individual meetings with potential partners in Shandong.
Andrew Stocks, managing director of Eyre Peninsula minerals developer Iron Road, said his talks were valuable.
“Through this delegation, the SA Government has enabled us to re-engage with a steel company that we had been meeting with previously a number of times,” he said.
“It has moved the conversation to the highest level within that company and moved the conversation forward greatly in a very short amount of time. And I don’t think we would have been able to do that if we had just been engaging by ourselves.”
Mr Stocks said the talks covered offtake and possible investment in the Central Eyre Iron Project.
Stockbroker and businessman Alan Young said the importance and influence of the Shandong government officials hosting the mission should not be underestimated.
“A mayor in these provinces might equate to a premier or even Prime Minister in Australia — that’s the lesson that really needs to be learned,” Mr Young said.
Representing contract winemaker Belvidere, Mr Young spent time either side of the trade mission as well as the official days in Shandong capital Jinan and the port of Qingdao talking to VIP clients.
“It’s no longer just talking, they’re doing deals and we’re doing deals with them and signing contracts and settling them,” he said.
However, not everyone was satisfied. One magnetite iron developer told The Advertiser he had battled to get his message across while others felt three days was too short.
Most took it as an opportunity to build relationships.
John Stewart, chief executive of Simulation Australia, said he expected solid outcomes, including bringing people to his Tonsley base.
“It’s been probably the most exciting opportunity we’ve had to drive the organisation forward in a long, long time,” he said. “The Chinese are incredibly interested in what we do.”
Andrew Holmes, of Hahndorf Inn, said most of his Chinese tourists now were from southern regions but he wanted to attract visitors from north and east China.
“We met a whole new bunch of inbound tourism operators,” he said.
Greg Johansen, managing director of medical commercialisation firm Medvet also made progress toward finding partners for research and pharmaceutical manufacturing.
“Bringing the State Government in, particularly in China where they are so government-focused, it has opened doors for us that haven’t been opened before,” he said.
“And we’ve gone through those doors.”
A SHOWCASE FOR SA BRANDS
CONSTRUCTION work has begun on a $200 million centre in the city of Zibo in provincial Shandong which will showcase South Australia.
Entrepreneur and developer William Li has founded the centre which will have an entire floor dedicated to SA.
The mixed use centre will have retail, online sales, food and wine, real estate and other avenues for trade. Zibo is a city of more than three million in SA’s sister province.
Mr Li’s relationship with SA began through importing wine and meeting Tony Royal, managing director of Ottoway company Portavin.
“We became friends, not just business partners, and this dream started from there,” Mr Li said.
“I’ve had wonderful experiences visiting SA and been impressed by the abundant produce and high quality.
“So through this project, we’re hoping we can introduce more SA produce to middle class Chinese.
“We’d also like to see more SA businesses invest in Zibo, a two-way exchange. ”
Mr Li said his project was”strongly supported” by the Shandong Government.
Premier Jay Weatherill said several of Mr Li’s colleagues wanted to become business migrants to SA.
DONE DEALS
* Shandong-SA Local Government Economic Development Co-operation memorandum of understanding linking South Australia’s 63 councils with Shandong’s 17 prefectures.
* Business SA memorandum with its Shandong counterpart CCPIT.
* Australia-China International Medical Group memorandum with one of Qingdao’s largest hospitals on medical training, research and development.
* State Library of SA to work with Shandong Library to establish one-card system, swap expertise on restoration, exchange interns, send travelling exhibitions.
* Purus Group deal with QiJi for SA products to be sold through store in special economic zone in Qingdao.
* Purus Group and Taihua Food Co agreement on supply of meat products to Shandong.
* Seppeltsfield winery to sell extra 1.5 million litres/year of wine.
* Stehr Group to sell first tuna into China — a trial shipment of 40 tonnes into Shandong this year, aiming for 200t next year.
* City of Onkaparinga memorandum with the Jinan Bureau of Commerce on innovative industries.
* UniSA Business School, SA Tourism Commission memorandum with Chinese counterparts on services and support to tourism and marketing.
* Flinders University, CSIRO and Qingdao Institute memorandum on development of the China-Australia Institute for the Marine Biotechnology Industry.
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