China President Xi Jinping to give amber light for healthy products

Xi Jinping is expected to unveil regulations to open the Chinese market to suppliers of nutritional foods and health products.

A2 Milk chief executive Jayne Hrdlicka. Picture: David Geraghty

President Xi Jinping is expected to announce regulations to open up the Chinese market to suppliers of nutritional foods and health products when he opens China’s first import expo in Shanghai on Monday.

Moves to streamline imports of products that are seen to be in line with Mr Xi’s Healthy China 2030 campaign are expected to be announced as part of a broad package of measures aimed at showing China’s commitment to further open up its market to foreign suppliers and investors.

While China has already signalled plans to bring in laws from January 1 to tighten controls on imports from the growing informal daigou channel offshore, ­including in Australia, Mr Xi is expected to announce other measures to streamline the licensing of foreign products that would meet his goal of improving the health of its ageing population.

This could benefit Australian food and healthcare product companies provided they are also able to comply with China’s increasing commitment to tighter food and drug safety standards.

While companies such as a2 Milk have been licensed to sell products into China, as part of a new regulatory regime, others have found their applications ­delayed.

Mr Xi’s speech is expected to outline China’s commitment to making licensing easier and more transparent for companies producing high-quality healthcare and nutritional products.

The speech follows a high-level conference in Beijing this week hosted by the China National Health Food Association that brought together Chinese state regulators and domestic and foreign suppliers of food and healthcare products.

At the conference, Chinese regulators made it clear that they intended to continue to tighten standards on food and drugs coming into the country, which has suffered many health scares from fake vaccines and product tampering. But they were also keen to work with suppliers to ensure their regulations were workable and practical.

A2 Milk chief executive Jayne Hrdlicka was one of the few foreign executives to address the conference.

“We recognise that on a global level, food and nutritional safety, security and supply is one of the most critical issues of our time,” she told the conference.

“Population growth will strain food supply even before factoring in the issues of the environment.

“We all have to be smarter, better, and more agile to thrive. We will all need to work together to tackle the issues ahead of us.”

Ms Hrdlicka said a2 was “listening closely to governments and regulators to ensure we understand and comply fully with their vision for the future”.

In an interview with The Australian after the conference, Ms Hrdlicka said a2 saw great opportunities in the China market.

She said a2’s process of stripping out the A1 protein from its milk and infant formula were particularly attractive for the Asian market, where there was a higher incidence of lactose intolerance.

“The A2-only protein is great for the digestive system of people in China,” she said.

“It is a market which is hungry for nutritional choices.”

She said Chinese consumers of products such as milk and infant formula did more research than most other consumers about the types of products on offer to them.

Ms Hrdlicka said a2 would not be affected by rules affecting e-commerce in China that come into effect in January.

She said the regulations were designed to ensure people selling consumer products into China paid tax and complied with food and drug safety standards.