Last week, staff from the U.S. Grains Council’s (USGC’s) office in Beijing, China welcomed a group of producers from COPAG, a Moroccan citrus, dairy and meat cooperative, to attend the 2024 China Seafood and Fisheries Expo in Qingdao, China.
The delegation was led by USGC Regional Consultant Dr. Mustapha El Youssoufi and escorted by USGC China Director Manuel Sanchez, USGC Livestock Sector Advisor Brian Wang, USGC Marketing Specialist Xiaoming Wang and USGC Administration and Compliance Coordinator Evelyn Li.
COPAG is made up of more than 20,000 farmers focused on raising the standards of agricultural production in Morocco to improve producers’ operations and provide a consistent, high-quality assortment of products to consumers. The Council has invested significant resources in COPAG and as a result the U.S. agricultural industry enjoys a very strong relationship with Moroccan buyers.
“COPAG has rapidly grown in the past several years, and its success motivated us to better connect COPAG producers with the global market at the Seafood and Fisheries Expo,” Sanchez said. “The expo is one of the premier platforms for seafood production and trade and with the Chinese market’s sky-high potential for agricultural products, it’s clearly a vital event for the Council to attend.”
Focused on technological advancements in agriculture and aquaculture and networking for producers, exporters and procurers, the China Seafood and Fisheries Expo has been held annually since 1996 and attracts more than 40,000 attendees from 120 countries and regions. At the expo, the Council’s group became better acquainted with suppliers of breeding and processing machinery and related services.
The group also toured feed mills and aquaculture farms in the area to study those facilities and their practices for optimizing feed and food production, with a particular interest in how Chinese shrimp farms adapt to the region’s climate.
“We observed advanced modeling systems similar to our own and new techniques that we previously could only read about,” said Ayyoub Loultiti, COPAG vice president. “We came to China with many questions in mind and the Council’s team helped us answer them and discover new questions we didn’t even think about before.”
Learn more about the Council’s work in China here.
About The U.S. Grains Council
The U.S. Grains Council develops export markets for U.S. barley, corn, sorghum and related products including distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS) and ethanol. With full-time presence in 28 locations, the Council operates programs in more than 50 countries and the European Union. The Council believes exports are vital to global economic development and to U.S. agriculture’s profitability. Detailed information about the Council and its programs is online at www.grains.org.