News Releases for October 2004
October 22, 2004
Contact: Lance Gaebe 701.328.2200, Cherie Harms 701.319.2275
China Trade Mission Returns With $6 Million Agreement, NDSU Academic Exchange Agreements
BISMARCK, N.D. - Lt. Gov. Jack Dalrymple today announced that a delegation of North Dakota businesses and officials returned this week from a mission in the People's Republic of China with a $6 million agreement to sell alfalfa cubes and related equipment to Chinese dairy entrepreneurs, and academic and research exchange agreements between North Dakota State University and two Chinese universities.
"The success of the recently returning delegation to China - and previous delegations to Taiwan, Japan and Cuba - makes clear that expanding and exploring North Dakota trade opportunities in the global market can help to grow our economy for North Dakota citizens," Dalrymple said. "We're seeing real results from these missions."
Mike Bloyed and Frank Moore of Heartland Feed, Inc. in Tioga received a $6 million letter of intent from the president of a company specializing in agricultural investments and international sales to purchase $6 million of product. The company's target is to develop a dairy industry in China in accordance with the central government's goal to grow the industry. The demand for milk in the country has skyrocketed in recent years and the company plans to fill that need by importing dairy cattle and North Dakota feed.
"The central government has aggressive plans to develop their fledgling dairy industry in China and we are excited about the opportunity to be a partner in this development," said Bloyed. "The amount of feed required to meet the potential needs of their dairy industry is enormous."
Ken Grafton, North Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station director, signed a Memorandum of Academic Cooperation and Exchange between Henan Agricultural University and North Dakota State University. This agreement will set in motion the process to develop student and faculty exchanges, joint training programs and collaborative research projects. NDSU will also be working with China Agricultural University in Beijing and plans to further nurture that relationship to achieve similar goals.
Previous research conducted by the North Dakota Trade Office identified foreign students as a potential economic growth area for North Dakota. Foreign students contribute more than twice as much income to North Dakota's universities as do domestic students and are a valuable resource for market research and cultural studies. "This is a tremendous opportunity to allow for collaboration among scientists to solve problems associated with agricultural production in both North Dakota and China," Grafton said. "The collaboration will also provide a growing understand of our various cultures. It has been our experience that students from specific universities in China are highly qualified to continue their education at NDSU."
The delegates also made progress in other trade areas:
- Northern Crops Institute has been invited by several regions to propose training programs and opportunities to educate Chinese farmers on how to use North Dakota feed ingredients. NCI may also host programs in Fargo as well as sending faculty specialists to China to assist on specific projects.
- Arrow-Tech, Inc. interviewed six distributors that are interested in selling their North Dakota manufactured radiation dosimeters throughout China. They will continue to follow up and narrow this list of candidates and are planning to name only one distributor for the Chinese market. Arrow-Tech will need nine to 12 months to get their products certified by the Chinese government and will continue to work on the approval process with their distributor and the U.S. Commercial Service of the Department of Commerce.
- Superior Grains met with a firm that buys more than 200,000 metric tons a year of peas. Les Knudson, president of Superior Grains, feels confident that he can sell peas to these buyers in large quantities in coming months.
- The North Dakota Dry Pea and Lentil Association (DPLA) also met with pea buyers and identified not only a demand for human consumption but also an enormous demand for feed peas as the Chinese government continues to focus development on the dairy industry. DPLA will continue to work with the contacts established in China to market North Dakota peas as a feed component for the dairy, chicken and swine markets.
Members of the trade mission included:
- Frank Moore and Mike Bloyed of Heartland Feed, Inc., Tioga
- Ken Grafton, director of the North Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station, Fargo
- Duane Hauck, interim director, NDSU Extension Service, Fargo
- Kim Koch, Northern Crops Institute, feed production center manager
- Larry White, North Dakota Dry Pea and Lentil Association, Bowman
- Les Knudson, president, Superior Grains, Crosby
- Ron Disrud, Engineer and head of sales for Arrow-Tech, Inc., Rolla
- Bob Skarphol, president of the Tioga Economic Development Corporation, representative
- Lance Gaebe, senior policy advisor, Office of Governor John Hoeven
- James Burgum, program coordinator, Office of Governor John Hoeven
The delegation left North Dakota Oct. 7 and visited the cities of Puyang, Hebi, Jiaozou, Xuchang and Xian and Hua Yin before returning to Beijing for their return home the week of Oct. 18.
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