A delegation from the US state of Michigan is in Asia this week as part of a drive to boost agricultural exports to the region.
The group includes Keith Creagh, director of the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, and Michigan governor Rick Snyder, along with other state and university officials.
Products like cherries, blueberries, apples and cranberries will be some of the focuses of the delegation, which arrived in Tokyo on Sunday and flies to Beijing today (27 September).
Speaking on the Japanese market, the ageing population’s focus on health is one of the main attractions of the country to Michigan exporters, according to Mr Creagh.
“They spend a high per cent of their income on food,” Mr Creagh told Michigan Live. “They demand high quality products and they are willing to pay for them.”
Initial commercial deals being looked at by the delegation with companies such as Otsuka Food are largely centred on dried fruit.
Governor Snyder, who met with Governor Yukiko Kada of Michigan sister-state Shiga Prefecture yesterday, has called for a doubling of Michigan’s agricultural exports in the next five years.
The delegation flies out to Beijing today, before going on to Shanghai on Thursday and visiting Korea on Friday, before returning to the US this Saturday.
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