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| New global hub for F&B produce |
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By: Tan Weiyun (Shanghai Daily)
Apr 12,2008 |
AN international agricultural logistics and trading company broke ground earlier this week in Nanhui Modern Agricultural Park, aiming to further sharpen the district's competitive edge on the national and international stage.
The Shanghai International Logistics and Trading Base for the Famous and Special Agricultural Products is located between the Pudong International Airport and the Yangshan Deepwater Port.
It is set to become the largest platform in the Asia Pacific region for transnational agricultural sourcing and trading of food and beverage products.
Approximately 600 million yuan (US$83.3 million) will be invested in its first phase, which covers an area of 22.4 hectares.
The base will form an integrated industrial chain with sales exhibitions, trading and purchasing, logistics distribution, auctions and processing of agricultural produce, rural tourism as well as other value-added services.
The base's first phase will be completed and put into full operation by the end of 2009.
When the whole project is completed, the annual trading volume of agricultural produce is expected to top 2 million tons within three years with an annual turnover of nearly 10 billion yuan, which will create 5,000 jobs for local farmers and benefit 500,000 families in the district.
It will be built into a 100,000-ton modern international cold chain logistics center offering services such as packaging, quality inspection, product auctions, human resources, R&D as well as many others.
"It is not a base for planting crops. Instead, it is a place for agricultural products to flow through, be sourced from and transported around the world. It is a bridge to connect global food sourcers with the Chinese market while opening a big door for both domestic and overseas suppliers," said Pan Guohe, the base's director, who is also a logistics expert and guest professor of the University of Illinois, Chicago.
"Through this base, we can transport Thai rice to Russia and ship the aquatic products from Papua New Guinea to Japan. It's a transfer station, a processing base and a food quality measurement and monitoring center," Pan said. "The base enjoys a perfect location that no one in the world can compete with. It is more Amsterdam than Amsterdam."
The base is eight kilometers from the Pudong International Airport and 15 kilometers from the Shanghai Yangshan Deepwater Port with highways and railways passing nearby.
"Not everyone can settle in the base. You need qualifications," Pan said. A membership system will operate, together with a curriculum vitae system, a bar-coding system and a tracing system to provide information on products and manufacturers.
In addition, the base will house various functional areas, such as a customs supervision bonded warehouse, a cold chain logistics center, an agricultural and fishing products circulation and processing center, a deep-freezing area, an e-commerce zone, an agricultural products exhibition hall and a trading and purchasing center among others.
The Information Center will provide a state-of-the-art electronic data interchange system for e-commerce, dynamic inventory management and long distance report outputs along with many other services.
In its distribution warehouses, delivery vehicles will be equipped with advanced global positioning system allowing customers to monitor their goods' quality and quantity at any time and at any place through the Internet.
"Through on-site and electronic network trading platforms, various exhibitions and fairs, logistics facilities and food inspection, packaging, distribution and other professional services, the base offers overseas customers and merchants the opportunity to deal directly with the Chinese manufacturers," Pan said.
There will also be areas for trading with other regions and countries in the Asian-Pacific region, Africa, the Europe Union and North America.
Currently the Asia Pacific Trading Hall, Taiwan Trading Hall and Africa Trading Hall are under construction to exhibit these regions' uniquely exotic food and beverage produce.
"I'm very positive about this base's future," said Pan. "It will be a first-class base for agricultural exports, and a vital link in the Asia Pacific region."
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