Media release 

Australian Minister for Trade, Mark Vaile

Wednesday MAY 24, 2000
MVT56/2000

China market not small potatoes for Aussie firm

Technico, an agri-biotechnology company from the Southern Highlands region in NSW, is using groundbreaking technology and state-of-the-art production facilities to make major inroads into the huge Chinese potato market.

Trade Minister, Mark Vaile, today visited Technico's $5.5 million plant in Kunming in the western Chinese province of Yunnan.

"Producing around 44 million tonnes of potatoes every year, the Chinese market is the largest in the world and potentially very lucrative," Mr Vaile said.

"Technico's plant is a model of how Australian expertise in biotechnology can open up major opportunities in China".

The Technico plant uses high-yielding technology to produce a more uniform miniature seed potato. It is the largest such facility in the world and can supply more than 10 million of the company's Technituber seed potatoes annually.

Technico is part of a 74-member business mission Mr Vaile has been leading in China over the last week.

Technico has also established miniature seed potato facilities in the US, Mexico and, very recently, India.

Mr Vaile's focus on the province of Yunnan is in part a response to the recent launch by the Chinese Government of the "Western Development Campaign", a strategy designed to foster economic development in the country's relatively poor western regions.

In the recent Federal Budget, Mr Vaile announced that Austrade would help Australian firms pursue opportunities arising in western China by establishing new offices in Kunming and Chengdu later this year.