On July 7, Mr Lai Kin-ming, Mickey, Director of Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government (the “AFCD”), led a delegation to visit the Yuhu Cold Chain (Chengdu) Trading Centre. The delegation conducted an on-site review of the park’s construction and operations, and held in-depth discussions on topics including joint development of standardisation systems, agricultural product distribution, food safety control, and cross-border supply chain cooperation.

The AFCD is a key department under the Environment and Ecology Bureau of the Hong Kong SAR Government. Its main responsibilities include promoting fisheries and agricultural production, managing the Government’s wholesale markets for fresh food, safeguarding animal and plant health and food safety, and enforcing regulations on animals, plants and pesticides. It plays a central role in Hong Kong’s quality control system for agricultural products and food safety assurance.

The delegation visited the Chengdu park’s Investment Promotion Centre and the intelligent high-standard cold storage facilities in the logistics zone, among other sites, gaining a comprehensive understanding of the park’s achievements in warehousing and logistics, digital trading, and industry services. The delegation was also briefed on Yuhu Cold Chain’s strategic layout and development plans across Greater China.

Mr Lai spoke highly of Yuhu Cold Chain’s business model innovation, efficient construction and operational capabilities, and long-term strategic planning. He noted that Yuhu Cold Chain has demonstrated a strong willingness and sense of responsibility in important livelihood-related areas such as food safety assurance and the supply of daily food materials. The “Quality Fresh Hong Kong” brand accreditation scheme, led by the AFCD, could be organically combined with Yuhu Cold Chain’s aspirations and needs in advancing food safety. Such a combination is expected not only to enhance the influence and coverage of “Quality Fresh Hong Kong” in the Mainland market, but also to further strengthen Yuhu Cold Chain’s advantages in the supply of daily food materials, providing consumers with higher-quality and better-assured products.

Mr Jiang Wensheng, Director of Hong Kong Yuhu Group and Chairman of Yuhu Cold Chain Sichuan Company, extended the warmest welcome to Director Lai Kin-ming and his delegation on behalf of Mr Huang Xiangmo, Chairman of the Board of Hong Kong Yuhu Group and Founder of Yuhu Cold Chain. He elaborated on Hong Kong Yuhu Group’s original strategic intent in laying out its cold chain industry across Greater China, as well as its investment strategy of proactively integrating into the nation’s overall development and committing to substantial physical assets. In terms of business model innovation, the Group is fully committed to building an OMO (Online-Merge-Offline) business model, aiming to break through traditional commercial boundaries and build all-round, multi-dimensional trading scenarios to meet the diverse needs of merchants.

Mr Jiang said that Yuhu Cold Chain has built a large-scale cluster of parks across the Mainland, giving it strong cold chain food supply chain capabilities. The AFCD has accumulated rich and mature experience in agricultural product quality control, food safety management, and ensuring the food supply of mega-cities with extremely large populations. The two sides have broad room for cooperation in multiple areas and can leverage their respective strengths to pursue in-depth cooperation in joint development of standardisation systems, food safety assurance, and the cross-border distribution of quality agricultural products.

Five Areas of Proposed Cooperation

• Building a dual-circulation system linking domestic and external markets. With its nationwide network of parks, Yuhu Cold Chain is becoming an important channel for supplying Mainland food materials to Hong Kong. Hong Kong Yuhu Group can provide two-way compliance guidance for imports and exports, and as an integrated cross-border warehousing and logistics service provider, Yuhu Cold Chain has in the past two years helped products from Shandong, Jiangxi, Guangdong and other regions open up channels for supply to Hong Kong. Going forward, the Group can work with the AFCD to further promote Mainland agricultural products’ entry into the Greater Bay Area, supply to Hong Kong, and expansion overseas. Hong Kong Yuhu Group has already partnered with the Fish Marketing Organisation to promote “Hong Kong Quality Fish” in expanding into the Mainland market, and going forward can also select Mainland products bearing national geographical indications for supply to Hong Kong and overseas, driving a dual circulation of premium agricultural products between the Mainland and Hong Kong.
• Jointly promoting food safety management and experience in ensuring food supply for mega-cities. Leveraging the Yuhu Cold Chain platform can help the AFCD and other Hong Kong government bodies more effectively promote Hong Kong’s experience in food safety management and in ensuring food supply for mega-cities with extremely large populations.
• Jointly advancing the formulation of Greater Bay Area standards. Hong Kong Yuhu Group has always attached importance to, and actively participated in, the formulation and promotion of international and domestic cold chain standards, and looks forward to working with relevant Hong Kong authorities to jointly advance the formulation of cold chain standards for the Greater Bay Area.
• Helping to cultivate new growth points for Hong Kong’s financial sector in the Mainland. As the supply of Mainland agricultural products to Hong Kong increases, Mainland enterprises look to Yuhu as a trade finance service platform to help resolve issues such as cross-border accounts receivable. Focus can be placed on synergy in supply chain finance, using Yuhu Cold Chain as a platform to leverage the resource advantages of Hong Kong as a financial centre, and actively participating in the financial infrastructure of the trillion-scale cold chain food supply chain across Greater China.
• Building a platform for cultivating international talent. Leveraging the synergy and connectivity advantages of “Mainland–Hong Kong–International” linkages to cultivate internationalised, professional talent for China’s cold chain industry.

During the discussion, Mr Anthony Sai-ho Lam, Chairman of the AFCD’s Advisory Committee on Agriculture and Fisheries and Chairman of the Federation of Hong Kong Industries, also exchanged views with Mr Jiang on topics such as Hong Kong enterprises “going global” and integrating beef and mutton food resources from Central Asia and seafood resources from Southeast Asia. Both sides plan to continue exploring potential cooperation going forward.

Also participating in the visit were Ms Li Lai-fan, Senior Fisheries Officer, Mr Fung Ho-lam, Senior Agriculture Officer, and Ms Lau Lai-kwan, Agriculture Officer, all of the AFCD, as well as Mr Yip Hin-wai, Senior Marketing Manager of the Fish Marketing Organisation. Officials from relevant departments of Qingbaijiang District accompanied the visit.

Recent Visits to Yuhu Cold Chain (Chengdu) Trading Centre

As a key Hong Kong enterprise that has put down roots through investment in Western China, the Yuhu Cold Chain (Chengdu) Trading Centre has received great attention from both the Hong Kong SAR Government and Mainland governments.

• May 26 — Mr Tam Yiu-chung, Secretary-General of the Hong Kong Coalition, Member of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People’s Congress, and Hong Kong Deputy to the National People’s Congress, led a delegation on the “New Western Land-Sea Corridor” to visit Yuhu Cold Chain. (“Tam Yiu-chung Leads Hong Kong ‘New Western Land-Sea Corridor’ Delegation to Visit Yuhu Cold Chain”)
• April 26–29 — Yuhu Cold Chain accompanied the AFCD of the Hong Kong SAR Government on a visit to Qinghai Province. (“Yuhu Cold Chain Accompanies HKSAR Government Delegation on Visit to Qinghai”)
• April 10 — Ms Britney Choi Gi-lam, Acting Director of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Chengdu, led a delegation to visit and study the Yuhu Cold Chain (Chengdu) Trading Centre. (“HKSAR Government’s Chengdu Economic and Trade Office Visits Yuhu Cold Chain (Chengdu) Trading Centre”)
• March 27 — Mr Zhang Tao, Director of the Sichuan Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office, made a special visit to the Yuhu Cold Chain (Chengdu) Trading Centre, explicitly stating that “Yuhu Cold Chain is an important vehicle for Sichuan-Hong Kong cooperation.” (“Sichuan Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office: Yuhu Cold Chain is an Important Vehicle for Sichuan-Hong Kong Cooperation”)
• February 11 — Yuhu Cold Chain, as the sole enterprise representative, delivered a keynote speech at the “Chengdu-Hong Kong New Year Reception” hosted by the Chengdu Municipal Government. (“Yuhu Cold Chain Represents Hong Kong-Invested Enterprises at the Chengdu-Hong Kong New Year Reception in Chengdu”)

(Correspondent: Cheng Cheng)