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Day 2 - Visit to Chengdu (Andrew Mallison)

Day 2

We're in Chengdu, in south western China and now a city of 11 million people. I'm reminded how big China is when the flight information last night showed we are about a thousand miles from Beijing. We're invited to visit the head office of Tongwei Limited, one of the largest feed companies in the world but also a manufacturer of solar panels, a developer of real estate and with interests in fish farming, media and petfood. There is an impressive focus on providing clean energy and clean water for aquaculture. Tongwei’s head office is a huge modern tower block in a technology district of Chengdu – they kindly pick us up from the hotel and, once tea served and give an introduction to the group.

In the past, Chinese companies were mainly concerned about their domestic market but are now keen to hear about global trends and issues. I give an update on production and consumption statistics (thanks to our Market Research Director, Enrico) and then talk about our work to represent the industry on issues like feeding fish to fish, the need to protect the use of marine ingredients in feed formulations, and the confusing landscape of ecolabels and certification.

Meeting over, we are invited to lunch in their offices before the Tongwei car takes us back to the hotel. A couple of hours to catch up with the day job, then head to the airport again for the three hour flight to Sanya City and our itinerary for tomorrow.