A new video showcasing British farming will be debuted at a huge international food exhibition in China today (Sept 28).

SIAL China 2020 is one of the first large-scale food exhibitions to take place since lockdown – and is the most important show in China for the meat sectors – with the eyes of the world on quality products to supply the massive Chinese market.

To coincide with this, AHDB is launching a new export video, showcasing high-quality British produce, tailored for the Chinese market, with the aim of further stimulating demand for British meat products. The video is the first element of a suite of digital content being launched globally by AHDB in a bid to develop British farm produce exports.

The levy-funded promo, which will be shown on the British meat stand at the event in Shanghai, has taken more than a year to produce with several different iterations edited to suit specific markets, like China, Japan and the Middle East.

Jonathan Eckley, Head of Asia Pacific Export at AHDB, said: “This video is all about positioning British agriculture as a producer of high-quality, premium products. It highlights our beautiful landscapes, environment, sustainability, heritage, integrity, traceability and high welfare standards.

“We should rightly be proud of our produce in Britain and this video will be used at international food shows to shine the spotlight on what we do and how we do it.

“The focus for this is in markets where English is not widely spoken, so it is a deliberately visual film which we are tailoring for specific markets.

“The key message is that we care about the food we produce because we care about the people who eat it.”

The project, produced by AHDB’s in-house digital and creative team, has seen a number of departments collaborating, led by our export and digital teams. Location filming took place across the country, from the Lake District, all the way down to the South Coast.

Interior shots were filmed at Birmingham, Coventry, and Oxfordshire

After its premier, the film will be distributed in China via Weibo and We Chat, the equivalents to social media channels like Facebook and Twitter that we are familiar with.

SIAL China is the most important meat show in China and is normally held in May but was delayed because of the Covid-19 outbreak.

AHDB will share a stand at SIAL with Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) and Meat Promotion Wales (HCC). The joint presence is financed by the Ring-fenced Fund (RFF), a £3.3 million levy fund, collected by AHDB and used jointly with QMS and HCC to support the red meat sector.