Shops to sell mainland chilled beef
Shoppers will soon have another choice in buying beef after an agreement was reached yesterday to import chilled beef from the mainland.
The beef, less expensive than the fresh product but more expensive than some frozen beef, will be imported from a large supplier in Jilin province, and the health minister said more suppliers would be introduced if there was high demand.
Chilled beef on sale in Hong Kong is imported from other countries and can cost more than fresh beef.
Secretary for Food and Health Dr York Chow Yat-ngok said there was no limit on the quantity of imported beef. 'Hong Kong merchants can deal directly with the biggest chilled beef supplier on the mainland. As long as Hong Kong merchants are interested, chilled beef can be imported in the near future,' he said.
The wholesale price of fresh beef is now HK$23.50 a catty (600 grams), after Ng Fung Hong, the city's sole importer of cattle from the mainland, raised the price by 2.8 per cent last month due to rises in rearing costs and the appreciation of the yuan.
The retail price of fresh beef is about HK$60 per catty. Chilled beef from the mainland would be about HK$40 a catty, Hong Kong Chilled Fattener Retailers Association chairman Wong Wai-chuen estimated.
He said it was difficult to predict the demand for chilled beef, because that currently on sale in the city was from such places as Canada and Australia, and could be more expensive than fresh beef.
'We have to taste the chilled mainland beef before guessing people's response to it. But it is definitely a good alternative,' Wong said.
Kowloon Beef and Mutton Merchants' Association vice-chairman Chow Tak said chilled beef would not replace fresh beef. 'People can taste the difference easily, that fresh beef is much better. Yes, chilled beef is cheaper but people who really love beef will not care about the prices.'
But Catering Industry Association vice-president Thomas Woo Chu believed many families and restaurants would switch to chilled beef.
'The prices are more affordable and the difference in taste is small, given the advanced technology,' he said, adding that he had kept a close eye on such products for a long time.
York Chow, on a three-day trip to Beijing, sealed the deal yesterday with Zhi Shuping, Minister of the State General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.
