FTA project settled in Ningbo
- Details
- Category: Ningbo District
- Published: Tuesday, 03 November 2015 09:34
Recently, with the start of constructing the 377 mu (25.13 hectares) isolation farm for Australian imported beef cattle, the Australian beef cattle isolation slaughter project officially started. Ningbo citizens are expected to enjoy fresh Australian beef in the second half of 2016.
In 2014, after signing the Free Trade Agreement (FTA), China and Australia reached an agreement that China would import one million beef cattle from Australia per year. To further expand the scale and types of imported goods and accelerate the construction of Ningbo Port, in 2015, Ningbo successfully got the imported beef cattle isolation slaughter project.
The project is located along Hangzhou Bay in Modern Agriculture Development Zone in Cixi. It covers an area of 1,235 mu (82.33 hectares) with a total investment of 350 million yuan. The isolation slaughter base has the functions of separate rearing, fattening, slaughtering, cold storage, and processing. It is expected that 100,000 beef cattle will be imported from Australia and slaughtered every year in the initial period. The isolation farm is equipped with pastures, sewage treatment plant, biogas digester, etc, which can accommodate 10,000 live cattle. The farm will install solar photovoltaic systems which can generate 11 megawatts of electricity to meet the daily needs. To date, the preparatory work of the100 mu (6.67 hectares) isolation farm has been basically completed. The main construction is expected to be completed in mid 2016 and put into use in the second half year.
Australia has become China's largest beef importer, but more than 90% of the imported beef is frozen beef. With the increase of domestic beef consumption demand, China will see a huge growth in beef consumption in the future. When the beef cattle isolation slaughter project is put into operation, it will help optimize the structure of beef cattle in Ningbo and the surrounding districts, fill domestic beef production shortage and provide fine and cheap imported beef to the public.
