Finnish pork exports to Chinese market back on track

Two leading Finnish meat exporters have welcomed the speedy recovery of demand in their Chinese market from the COVID-19 crisis in their Q1 results statements.

Tero Hemmila, the CEO of HKScan, said on Thursday that pork exports to China had returned close to the company's target level at the end of Q1. Exports increased from the 2019 comparison period, although HKScan had not reached its planned volumes.

Based in southwestern Finland's Turku, HKScan is a well-known Finnish manufacturer of meat foods and products both domestically and internationally.

Last week, Juha Grohn, the CEO of Atria, another Finland-based large food industry company, praised the way the Chinese economy had perked up, also in pork imports. He noted that Atria's deliveries to China in March this year were the highest ever recorded monthly deliveries.

Both exporters have acknowledged challenges in export logistics. Grohn noted that the exceptional situation in world trade has affected maritime logistics. "There is an occasional shortage of sea containers and container ship slots."