Nanjing, the capital of East China's Jiangsu Province, will host the Fourth IMS World Pork Conference from September 14-17, 2007.

The conference, the world's largest meat industry event, is the first of its kind to be held in Asia. It is expected to attract the most influential players in the global meat industry, who will make a number of keynote speeches, said Li Shuilong, chairman of China Meat Association (CMA).

Around 1,000 companies are expected to display technology and products related to every aspect of the meat industry, including meat processing machinery and equipment, additives and ingredients, packaging, meat processing techniques and research achievements in an exhibition area of about 40,000 square metres.

During the exhibition, the organizing committee will organize trade negotiations, new products and technical seminars, which will provide Chinese and overseas meat foodstuff enterprises with a platform for exchanges and co-operation. Among the 1,000 participants, mostly influential players in the global pork industry, about 300 will come from overseas, including the United States, Germany, Ireland and Australia.

With a key theme of "Co-operation, Challenge, Development," the 2007 conference will focus on international co-operation, competition in the world meat industry, global trade policies, new technology, opportunities in global trade and the globalization of the meat industry, Li said.

The event is aimed at promoting the development of the international meat trade, as well as enhancing production safety, accelerating the technical upgrading of the sector and strengthening ties between the Chinese meat industry and its overseas counterparts.

China is a large meat producer and a potentially major meat market, said CMA Vice-Chairman Deng Fujiang. The nation's meat production accounts for 29 per cent of the global total, with pork production being 49 per cent of the world's total output.

While Germans consume an average of 85 kilograms of meat every year, Chinese people eat 59 kilograms. In Germany, annual per capita pork consumption is 50 kilograms, while the figure stands at 38 kilograms in China.

The potential market in China has attracted a great deal of attention from meat industry experts, producers and traders across the world.

Source:佚名