(Yicai) Nov. 7 -- Morton’s coarse sea salt, Californian red wine, cranberry sauce and cheeses are just some of the delicious products attracting attention at the ongoing China International Import Expo in Shanghai as US food and agricultural producers are included in the US delegation for the first time.

“We underestimated the demand when we were applying to the CIIE as we had not expected that so many US companies would want to take part,” Eric Zheng, president of AmCham Shanghai, told Yicai in an exclusive interview.

“As a result, the US food and farm produce pavilion only spans 400 square meters and space is limited. We are sorry that such a large state as Idaho only has a small booth,” he added.

Seventeen exporters of US food and farm produce are among the more than 200 US companies taking part in this year’s expo, in sectors ranging from chips to new energy vehicles to cosmetics.

Staff manning Idaho’s farm produce booth were busy answering questions such as ‘which US port are these shipped from,’ ‘ what is the proportion of protein content in the peas’ and ‘ what are the rating standards of US peas,’ Yicai’s reporter noticed.

The CIIE is an excellent opportunity to showcase US food in China, boost agricultural exports and assist US small and medium-sized firms to enter the China market, which is the fastest growing in the world, Zheng said. He hopes that US exports to China will increase and China-US trade will be strengthened through firms’ participation in the CIIE.

This event not only focuses on China, but is also evidence of the global impact that China is generating, said Brent Boydston, chairman of the US Grains Council, who is visiting China for the first time.

At the CIIE, you can meet with people from all over the world and explore the possibility of deepening these ties, he said.

The US Soybean Export Council has sent a delegation of 11 major food associations, including the US Grains Council, US Wheat Associates, US Meat Export Federation, US Dairy Export Council, USA Poultry and Egg Export Council and North American Renderers Association, which covers the entire value chain of US agriculture, said Manuel Sanchez, the director in China for USGC.

Editor: Kim Taylor