Mainly frozen beef (CN 0202) is also exported to Hong Kong. The data below shows the scale of exports from EU countries in 2019-2021 in tons:
Tab. 1 – export from EU countries (CN 0202)1
By far Germany is the largest exporter of frozen beef among the EU countries, accounting for over 35% of the export volume to the Hong Kong market.
| Country | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Austria | 1,475,678 | 2,578,828 | 423,240 |
| Belgium | 8,089,644 | 9,844,145 | 3,769,014 |
| Croatia | 446,836 | 1,225,051 | 143,004 |
| Cyprus | 564,510 | 1,308,217 | 240,580 |
| Czech Republic | 74,100 | 43,552 | – |
| Denmark | 1,502,007 | 1,816,135 | 1,315,061 |
| Estonia | 387,900 | 307,080 | 128,520 |
| Finland | 526,140 | 829,450 | 154,330 |
| France | 6,444,661 | 3,735,847 | 6,232,276 |
| Germany | 36,021,603 | 68,224,216 | 31,911,838 |
| Greece | 471,019 | 1,039,167 | 442,983 |
| Hungary | 2,131,505 | 3,097,065 | 846,594 |
| Irleland | 11,629,565 | 9,350,300 | 6,204,287 |
| Italy | 13,917,547 | 13,017,192 | 3,442,131 |
| Lithuania | 451,510 | 764,595 | 434,397 |
| Netherlands | 25,749,478 | 34,142,173 | 19,034,723 |
| Poland | 18,345,684 | 22,433,339 | 8,715,402 |
| Portugal | 1,421,361 | 1,549,056 | 281,363 |
| Romania | 171,191 | 182,636 | 51,194 |
| Slovenia | 211,493 | 589,366 | 208,330 |
| Spain | 21,693,136 | 17,769,200 | 6,046,555 |
| Sweden | 2,032,609 | 1,836,896 | 571,307 |
| Total | 153,759,167 | 198,683,506 | 90,597,129 |
For European Union countries authorized to export to the Hong Kong market, it is sufficient that the plant is approved for EU trade without the obligation to separately approve the plant for export to the Hong Kong market. Moreover, if the country is the exporting country, it must use raw materials (i.e. animals, meat) exclusively from Member States eligible for export to that market in the production of products destined for shipment to the Hong Kong market. The list of these countries is provided by the Hong Kong Food Safety Centre available at: http://www.cfs.gov.hk/english/import/import_icfsg_04a.html.
The exceptions are countries such as Greece or Finland, where approval by Hong Kong services covers only plants, and not the entire territory of these countries.
Beef shipments to Hong Kong must be transported under appropriate refrigeration conditions. Chilled meat should be transported at a temperature of 0°C to 4°C. On the other hand, frozen meat should be kept at a minimum temperature of -18°C inside the block. These temperature requirements apply to each batch of meat and regardless of the amount of meat transported.
1 FAO Food Outlook
2 https://trade.ec.europa.eu/access-to-markets/en/statistics
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