March 13, 2002
|
Tour of Victoria Bay
|
Hong Kong, China
|
|
|
|
Half of the IALP class toured the bay via
this junk owned by Maersk, the Danish shipping giant. |
Our final full day in Asia kicked off with
tours of the Victoria Bay area on two “junks”, courtesy of
Maersk, a Danish shipping firm, and Pharmacia, the global
health care firm whose animal pharmaceutical plant we visited
while in Suchow, China. Junks are mini-yachts these firms use
for entertaining customers. They offered a fantastic vantage
point to discover the process of loading shipping containers
from the warehouse to a tow, and then from the tow to a
humongous ocean-going vessel resting in deeper waters of the
port. |
| Items shipped from the Hong Kong port to the
U.S. include clothing, electronics and plastic consumer goods.
There are fewer U.S. products shipped via the return trip from
West Coast ports like Tacoma, WA or Long Beach, CA.
Refrigerated units carry U.S. fruits, vegetable and meats to
Asia, while other shipping containers carry forest products
and scrap metals. In terms of dollar value, the U.S. is
importing far more goods to the U.S. than we are shipping back
to Asia. |
Shipping containers are loaded onto tows and
freighters in Victoria Harbor using this intricate crane
system. |
Our afternoon sessions were held
at the HSBC (Hong Kong Shanghai Bank Corporation) Building
located across the bay on Hong Kong Island. HSBC’s George
Leung and Thomas Poon provided our group with an objective
overview of the regional economic situation and WTO’s
potential impact on the region. We learned that China is the
major source of U.S. trade imbalances and that many of the SOE
(State Owned Enterprises) must become profitable as China
enters WTO or they will have to shut their doors.
University of Illinois Ph. D. graduate Dr. Anning Wei, now
with Dutch-owned Rabobank, the oldest agricultural cooperative
bank in the world, shared his research on how foreign food
companies are competing with Chinese SOEs. Many foreign brands
like Danone yogurt have been sold in China for some time now.
Chinese firms are now copying the formula and processes and
marketing nearly identical products that are preferred by
Chinese consumers. To leverage their position, companies like
Danone are now investing in similar Chinese firms like Bright
Dairy. |
|
Rick Dean pinning one of his patented “pig pins” on Garrett
Siegers of CoBank with Steven Yu of ADM, Pam Henderson and
Matt Bennett looking on. |
Garrett Siegers, director of Asian operations
for Co-Bank, discussed how Co-Bank assists their US
cooperative customers to sell US ag products in other
countries. Eighty percent of Co-Bank’s foreign direct
investment is through the USDA’s GSM-102 export credit
program.
Archer Daniels Midland’s Steven Yu discussed ADM’s Asian
operations. ADM currently operates 8 soy crushing plants in
China. Most are brand new are located near ports or major
soybean and swine production areas. |
When asked about China’s ban on
the import of GMO crops, Yu speculated that this is only
temporary and linked to due a major surplus of stored soybeans
at the large state-owned farms in Northeast China. As soon as
these stocks are depleted, China will have to again import
beans from South America and the U.S.
|
|
Our farewell dinner
was held in the corporate dining room at the top of the HSBC
tower in downtown Hong Kong. All class members, and even some
of our special guests offered toasts to the special memories
of our international travel seminar.
|
A special thanks goes out to ADM,
Maersk, Pharmacia, DuPont, Co-Bank, Rabobank, HSBC and the
Hong Kong office of DCCA for sponsoring speakers and events
during our stay in Hong Kong. Their contributions provided for
an exceptional finale to our Asian tour!
|
|
Chairs: Marty
Ahrends, Todd West and Matt Bennett |
|
|
| |
|
