Straight Talk presenter Eugene Chan (left) interviews Executive Chairman of the Federation of Hong Kong Industries Anthony Lam on TVB, Sept 19, 2023. (PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)
Anthony Lam, Executive Chairman of the Federation of Hong Kong Industries, is on Straight Talk this week.
Lam shares with us valuable insights into the intricacies of HK food supply, saying that while Hong Kong relies most of our food supply from outside, there's no need to panic buy since there's always enough. The only issue could be the logistics, where costs are high and there may be a small lag between re-shelving of stocks in supermarkets.
Check out the full transcript of TVB’s Straight Talk host Dr Eugene Chan’s interview with Anthony Lam:
Chan: Good evening and a warm welcome to Straight Talk. Our guest this evening is Anthony Lam, Executive Deputy Chairman of the Federation of Hong Kong Industries, and within that is the Chairman of the Industry Group 8 for Food, Beverage and Tobacco. Lam is also the CEO and the vice chairman of Golden Resources Group, a rice and retailing business listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange. He is also Chairman of the Q-mark Council, as well as the Advisory Committee on Agriculture and Fisheries. With his wide ranging and authoritative experience in the food industry, we have invited Lam to tell us could Hong Kong run out of food? Welcome, Anthony!
Lam: Thank you. I'm delighted to be here, Eugene.
Chan: Anthony, perhaps we can start by asking you to give our viewers an overview of the current state of Hong Kong’s food supply.
Lam: Hong Kong’s food supply has absolutely no problem. Hong Kong actually imports most of their food. For example, the fresh food, most of them are imported from the Chinese mainland. And for example, cattle is 100 percent from China. On the other hand, live chicken, poultry. It's 100 percent from Hong Kong. So, Hong Kong’s supply of food. You talk about rice, you talk about vegetable, it's mainly from mainland. And we have absolutely no problem with that.
Chan: Right. So, it seems like from what you said Hong Kong relies quite heavily on imports for food supply and, how has this dependence evolved over the years? Are we moving towards more and more reliant on the imports, or there's been some changes and also from which countries.
Lam: So, Hong Kong basically has been importing food products from overseas all along, we did have some kind of agricultural sector, for example, in the Yuen Long area, in some of the areas, but then we can never supply enough for the Hong Kong people. So, Hong Kong people have been importing food products from overseas from mainland all along. So, it hasn't changed. The agricultural land actually has reduced within Hong Kong from originally about 70 percent, to now about 2 percent, according to the government data, but you understand why we don't have enough place for people to live or so the government is actually still want to nurture the agricultural sector. So, instead of having a wide space and land area for the growing of the agricultural product, they are now looking at like agricultural park, and some like multi-layer, poultry and swine growing areas.
Chan: So, what are the … since you mentioned, I mean, primarily over the years we have always been import dependent. Naturally, people will be concerned about the safety, and also about the actual security of the food supply itself rather than, this sort of specific food. So, what factors do you think will affect that?
Lam: Now, I'll give you some interesting data to consider first, for example, rice in Hong Kong, we import about 58 percent from Thailand, we import around about 20 percent from Vietnam. So, it's all basically 99.99 percent of our rice are imported. Of course, the mainland also supply about 8 percent of the rice to Hong Kong, and you talk about chilled beef, it 33 percent from Australia, and Brazil 30 percent. For frozen beef is 54 percent from Brazil, and 20 percent from the USA, mutton and both chilled and frozen, you would expect it's mainly from Australia. You talk about pork, chilled pork 63 percent from Thailand, and frozen pork 56 percent from Brazil. So, these are all government data. And you can see that actually Hong Kong has been importing from all different countries around the world. So, Hong Kong merchants or Hong Kong traders are very, very easy to look for different suppliers and different locations around the world for the best quality product to be sent to Hong Kong.
Chan: So, in that case, safety and security-wise, you don't have much concern.
Lam: No. Hong Kong, safety-wise Hong Kong, they have a Centre for Food Safety, we call it CFS. Okay, they are holding the background and to check the quality of the… actually the safety of the products into Hong Kong in 2022 alone, they have checked about 66,000 samples for all the other food products into Hong Kong. So, I'm pretty confident on those, what the CFS has been doing.
Chan: We will come back to the CFS later on in the show. Since you mentioned that we have a lot of live chicken from Hong Kong.
Lam: Right.
Chan: And I remember during our school days, we always wanted to go to the New Territories to get some fresh vegetables. But I've sort of seen that we have a gradual decrease in the local production of vegetables. Why is that?
Lam: It's the land availability. Still, you can go to new territories for the new vegetable, the Hong Kong grown vegetable … as a matter of fact, the Hong Kong local grown vegetables are more expensive than the imported vegetables, apart from the salad vegetables you can find from the supermarket which is a package salad, they are more very and very expensive. But normally if you go to a market in Hong Kong, a locally grown vegetable is more expensive than those vegetables imported from the mainland. So, people has preference and the traders are actually reacting to what the people want, the consumer wants. So, that's why they have been changing. So, a lot of the products, for example, vegetables from Hong Kong is well demand from a lot of people, especially for the five star hotels or four star hotels. They want the local grown vegetable, and apart from the land grown vegetable, we also now have the hydroponic vegetable also grown in Hong Kong. But still, they are a very small share amongst the total food vegetable products in Hong Kong.
Chan: Right Anthony. We all know rice has been a staple food for Hong Kong for many years and everybody needs a bowl of rice. I remember even the second bowls or third bowls. And we know that people tell me you are a walking dictionary of rice and I've known you since we were young and your father was known as a king of rice. So, as a third generation executive of this family business, the Golden Resources Development International, can you share your observations on the rice market in Hong Kong, I mean in the last 50 years, what have you seen? Have you seen any sort of increasing rice market or decreasing or what have been your observations?
Lam: Okay, Hong Kong, for example, the manufacturing sector in Hong Kong, the blue collar workers in Hong Kong has been reduced. So, the overall consumption of rice used to be around over 300,000 tonnes. So, we always talk about 320,000 tonnes or 350,000 tonnes at one time. But now as last year, 2022, Hong Kong consumption of rice is around 260,000 tonnes. So, people eat less rice, but the quality of the rice the people eat actually has increased. They are buying more expensive rice, they are demanding a lot of the cleanliness of the rice, the processing of the rice, they focus a lot.
Chan: Since… I mean although we are eating less rice, it's a very important part of our daily lives. So, can we ever run out of rice in Hong Kong?
Lam: I don't think so. Because in Hong Kong, if you remember in the… around the year 2000s, there was a rush in rice in Hong Kong, and Premier Wen Jiabao actually promised Hong Kong to the amount that if whenever Hong Kong needs rice or there's a shortage of rice, China can provide the rice to Hong Kong. So, you have basic insurance on that, but the Hong Kong government also has a very strong policy for rice protection because rice is still a reserve stock in Hong Kong. So, all the traders need to keep 17% of the rice that they import as reserve stock. So, the government, the TID, the Trade and Industry Department, and the Customs will go to each of the rice importers' warehouses to check the rice every month. We have to fill in all the forms and report to them. So, they want to make sure that on behalf of the government, the traders are actually holding about 17 percent of the rice, which is about two weeks of supply in Hong Kong and provided also in the trade, so people will also keep at least two weeks of stock. You have one month of stock in Hong Kong. They were of course some concern about panic buying in Hong Kong in the past, but I always urged the people not to be too worried about the supply ability of rice is actually the over demand of the rice is the logistics which is the … that area is affecting this … if you see the supermarkets, that there’s no rice there, it is not because there’s no rice in Hong Kong, it's because the replenishment of the rice is short.
Chan: Thank you very much for your reassurance that we have at least one month of rice supply in Hong Kong. I mean, that's quite a long time, especially following the current logistics. As we know, all the food production and food supplies again, more and more, sort of globally. And then, but it's interesting when you said that, although we fully import for all of our food, we are quite safe, but what will be the, what we call vulnerable factors that you would consider that might affect that, that to the balance, although you said it's very safe to have food, but we're still import related.
Lam: So, you can see the price of the logistics. Okay, as you can see, for the three years and during the COVID, the logistics price increased a lot, and it reflects into the food price in Hong Kong. Of course, those coming from the mainland would not be too bothered. Because they're still on the land link. But if you go on the shipping line, they will have a little bit of price increase because of the logistic costs and the shortage of the shipment. But of course, as I said a lot of the rice is from Thailand to Hong Kong like 58 percent. But those rice, apart from the sea link, it can also be a land-link. Okay, through Thailand, going to maybe Laos and then going to China and then through Hong Kong, that's also an alternative route to Hong Kong. So, Hong Kong will never run out of rice.
Chan: Anthony, let's take a break now and viewers do stay with us. We will be right back.
Anthony Lam, Executive Chairman of the Federation of Hong Kong Industries, attends the Straight Talk show on Sept 19, 2023. (PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)
Chan: Thank you for staying with us. We have Anthony Lam, the executive deputy chairman of the Federation of Hong Kong industries with us talking about the very important issue of how secure our food supply is in Hong Kong. So, Anthony, on the first part of the show, you have reassured all of us that we have enough food supply and basically you have a lot … not to worry. But being on the other side, we're still worried because you have taught us 99.9 percent is basically imported food. So, have any steps been done by the Federation of the Hong Kong industries to try to diversify the different sources so that we have less dependency on a few countries?
Lam: Actually, the Federation has been advocating a few of the areas that the government might do to enhance the food production in Hong Kong, to enhance the food manufacturing in Hong Kong. So, one of the enhancements we want is to build what we call an Advanced Manufacturing Centre (AMC) of food production. So, the food production if it is done in multi levels in Hong Kong and supplied by yet again AMC, the Advanced Manufacturing Center for cultivating swine and cultivating poultry, so we can have the local Hong Kong products supplied to the food processor in Hong Kong and directly from Hong Kong can export the food product from Hong Kong to the GBA area. This is what we're advocating especially in the Northern Metropolis area.
Chan: Anthony you know, Hong Kong has a very high population density and in a way making food distribution and logistics is very critical. You mentioned earlier that sometimes if the food or the rice hasn't been replenished, there’s a reason you see apparent … a sort of empty shelf of no rice. So, has technology helped the industry in terms of all these logistics?
Lam: Of course, the new technology for example, of the warehouse management system, the delivery system, and then also the trucks, how they have the best route to deliver to the supermarket and also the handling system. All these are added to the swiftness or the speed of the delivery but still there is a lag between, I mean you cannot be delivering … have the truck to deliver the rice to a particular…all the supermarkets or all the outlets every day. They must probably go once every two days. So, even with one every two days, if the food product or rice landed in the supermarket and people rush to it and then talk everybody took 10 packs, it will be gone within one hour. Okay then there will still be a lag on the delivery or the logistic parts. I think the industry has improved a lot on the technology side, because the Hong Kong government also has given out the RFS, what we call the Re-industrialization Funding Scheme. With the RFS, they are able to help the manufacturing sector to improve the production lines, and even packaging lines and even delivery services so that Hong Kong can actually improve on that area so that the supply ability, the supply chain side can be improved.
Chan: Right, Anthony, you're also the chair of the Advisory Committee on Agriculture and Fisheries. And before I ask you something about fish supply in Hong Kong, I want to ask you about the challenge of limited farmable agricultural land in Hong Kong and this is reducing, as you said earlier, because I mean, we need land for housing. How do you tackle that?
Lam: We advocate the multi-level production area, because you still need for example, the conservation, the wastewater treatment, everything. If you're, if you're in a multi-level building, it can actually double up or triple up or even, you can have seven floors or eight floors of the production area. So, you talk about the hydroponic farming that can be all indoors. And the AFCD is actually proposing now or has been approved with the new agricultural park in Hong Kong, so that they can show the public or the farmers how to use the latest technology in farming. There will be 80 hectares of land for this purpose. The government is giving the people a lot of choices if they want to be a farmer or grow things and you can actually see recently, over the past five years, Hong Kong has come up with some amazing agricultural products like the Forget-Me-Not fish. It used to be only in Malaysia …
Chan: Very expensive.
Lam: … very expensive fish. But the Hong Kong agriculture sector … the fishery sector brought those fish into Hong Kong and grew in Hong Kong. And even the hairy crab is now available as a Hong Kong grown hairy crab. So, these are all new technologies. And the people are interested in growing them.
Chan: Just for interest, would that make our Forget-Me-Not fish and hairy crab cheaper?
Lam: It will be more to Hong Kong tastes.
Chan: I see.
Lam: You worry about the water quality, but the hairy crab in Hong Kong, with the very good water system in Hong Kong, I'm not worried about the water quality as well.
Chan: Since you mentioned Forget-Me-Not fish, a very famous fish, they're very expensive, so where are most of our fish from, for Hong Kong supply?
Lam: Hong Kong, most of the fish are actually from China, over 60 percent, in fact, close to 70 percent is from China. So, Hong Kong doesn't have to worry about there's a lack of fish in Hong Kong. Of course, our own fishermen will also go out to the sea to catch the fish. But the supply I don't think there's any problems in Hong Kong.
Chan: Anthony last week, we had Professor Kenneth Leung from the City University on the show talking to us about the safety of imported Japanese food. He said that all Japanese food imported in Hong Kong is safe for consumption because of the stringent test of the radioactive levels for our government. However, although the tritium in the water is very low, it is going to be there for the next 30 years, it will still have an accumulative effect. So, he said, It's better that we don't eat as much as before. Even that is safe. And I just want to ask you, I know you are a fan of Japan, and when you go to Japan now do you still feel safe consuming the local seafood?
Lam: Okay, actually, the Japanese government spends a lot of time to try to explain to the importers and to the traders about the quality of their fish, especially out of their water, especially the APS, going through the APS system, that advanced processing system, how to actually treat some of the water before diluting into the ocean. Okay, according to science, the level is minimal, so that it's fit for people's consumption. But of course there’s also sentiment, the people's sentiment. So, I would urge the Japanese government to be very open with their data. For example, when they check, they should check all the fish quality or the seafood quality and announce it, like the weather report in Japan, it is very detail so that you can have different areas they pick up on which kind of seafood and release the information to all the public. You have to go convince the public no matter whether it's in Japan or in Hong Kong or in mainland, that their product is safe.
Chan: Professor Leung said that Japan mainly concentrated on the level of tritium.
Lam: Yes.
Straight Talk presenter Eugene Chan (left) interviews Executive Chairman of the Federation of Hong Kong Industries Anthony Lam on TVB, Sept 19, 2023. (PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)
Chan: They also have strontium and caesium, different types of material also found that they haven't reported. So, do you agree with professor Leung saying that in Hong Kong it’s safe, but then you have to be careful because it's an accumulative effect, even in Japan, what is your view on that?
Lam: So, according to what we have, we have seen in the trade, we have seen that the figures they also reported have different strontium, iodine, tritium and everything else. The only problem that they have is the tritium because tritium acts very close to water. So, they cannot treat tritium. Of course, after treatment, the strontium still has a very low level, the iodine also has a very low level which according to the Japanese government, is on the safe level. Okay, so there are some of these radioactive materials. They are in the wild as well. So, I would urge the government, even the Hong Kong government, and then especially the Japanese government to release all this data so that people feel safe when they eat it, as now with all the sentiment they say that this is not safe, the accumulation, yes. They are talking about the next 30 years. But if the level is within the limit of the Hong Kong standard, okay, don't talk to me about the Japanese standard at the moment. We are Hong Kong people, so we abide by the Hong Kong standard. If this is the Hong Kong standard, it’s below the Hong Kong … if the seafood contamination, or we call it after the check, the figures are under the Hong Kong limit, I think it's safe to eat.
Chan: Anthony, and the last question for you for tonight is in the past in Hong Kong, I mean, it's very reassuring to hear from you that we have a very safe supply, constant supply, we never run out of food. But there have been a few incidents where we have people running for food, like a couple years ago, I mean, people talk about universal testing, last year actually, people were going to stock up food because they're worried that they won't be able to get out for seven days, for example. So, what would you say to the public on this?
Lam: I would urge yet again, the government to be very open yet. In July or in August, people tried to rush for salt in Hong Kong because of the APS water being released by the Japanese government. Okay, so there are a lot of … you get a lot of information from different places, but listen to the main media, listen to the government and advice what to do. In Hong Kong, you don't need to hoard things because they are available in Hong Kong. The government is doing a very good job. The traders are doing a very good job. I don't see much problem in Hong Kong, apart from maybe some wrong information people get all sensitive about that information and go and rush for the rice or the food product or toilet paper.
Chan: Thank you, Anthony, for your valuable insights into the intricacies of Hong Kong's food supply. And for reassuring us of the measures that have been put in place to secure it so that the Hong Kong people do not run out of food.
Viewers I like to leave you with a quote from Gandih: “The world has enough for everyone's needs, but not enough for everyone's greed.”
Have a good evening and see you next week!
