Ventures Dialogue

The HKTDC Hong Kong International Jewellery Show, one of the most important trade events of its kind in the world, will be held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre from March 4 – 8, 2009. Canadian buyers are invited to join their worldwide counterparts to visit the event and enjoy the extra sparkle created by the various new zones this year.

“Hong Kong is the perfect place to stage a jewellery industry event, given its expertise in this sector,” said Andrew Yui, Director, Canada, Hong Kong Trade Development Council. “Hong Kong’s own jewellery manufacturing industry is a sparkling success story: it is the world’s fourth largest exporter of fine jewellery after Italy, the US and India. Hong Kong’s total exports of fine jewellery amounted to US$3.5 billion in the first nine months of 2008. Total exports have maintained strong momentum in recent years, posting increases of 14%, 17% and 21% in 2006, 2007 and the first nine months of 2008, respectively.”

The Hong Kong International Jewellery Show is one of Asia’s premier jewellery trade events. Not only is it a key platform for sourcing quality jewellery, but it also adds value with a series of networking and information-exchange activities. The 2008 event attracted 2,300 international exhibitors from 45 countries and regions, while a total of 31,333 buyers from 135 countries and regions came through the doors. Continue reading ‘Extra sparkle for Canadian buyers at the HKTDC Hong Kong International Jewellery Show 2009′

Perhaps the most significant of all Chinese holidays, today January 26, 2009 marks the beginning of the Chinese New Year, the Year of the Ox.  Sometimes referred to as the Lunar New Year, Chinese New Year falls on the first day of the first lunar month in the Chinese calendar.  Celebrations continue until the lantern Festival, the 15^th day of the lunar month. 

The Ox symbolizes prosperity through fortitude and hard work.  People born under this sign are said to be stable, dependable and persevering.  This holiday is not only celebrated by the Chinese, but in many other Asian countries such as Korea, Mongolia, Bhutan, Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, and Thailand.  Other countries also celebrate the holiday, but to a lesser extent.

New Year traditions usually involve gift giving, New Year markets and fairs, and of course fireworks.  No new year’s celebration would be complete without them.  You might also notice the abundance of the color red.  Red is associated with happiness and believed to scare away evil spirits and bad fortune.  Check out your horoscope to discover what the Year of the Ox has in store for you, courtesy of Hong Kong Tourism Board. 

photo by yewenyi

French fries smothered in cheese curds and gravy … aaahhhh … poutine, a Canadian classic.  And now available in Hong Kong thanks to a Canadian company and four ambitious Canadians.

Despite what its name may suggest, New York Fries is 100% Canadian.  With the head office in Toronto, the company has franchise locations throughout malls in Canada, as well as in Korea and the U.A.E.

Partners Ricky Takasu, Thomas Lau, Ray Fung (on Right) and Ricky Lau have high hopes for their first store and big plans for the region.  The maiden store is in Harbour City, a posh shopping mall in Kowloon which caters to tourists and ten attached office towers.  Located just down the hall from a Roots store, New York Fries offers a view of the harbour, a private seating area, and poutine that looks and tastes just like the poutine at home.

Ricky and Thomas told me that they expect many of their customers will be like them:  return immigrants from Canada who enjoyed New York Fries in places like Vancouver and Toronto, and who will be excited to have a taste from home right here in Hong Kong.  In their 30’s, they explain that many people in their generation left Hong Kong, the place of their birth, before the handover to China in 1997, but have since returned.  As a cross-Canada brand, no matter where they lived, they’ll know New York Fries.

“Canadian products mean a sense of quality to people in Hong Kong,” adds Ricky.  With the economic growth in Hong Kong and mainland China, people here have raised their expectations for food according to Ricky and Thomas.  They want western style food and are willing to pay for it.  The origin of ingredients then is a fair question.  The cheese curds make the trip from Quebec while the potatoes are grown in the United States.  Ricky and Thomas explain that they tried to source Canadian potatoes but were not able to achieve the volumes they require.  They plan to try again. 

Ricky and Thomas add that for them, still Canadian passport holders, it’s “nice to have a connection to home” in their business.

Plans for the company are ambitious.  They expect to open two or three more locations in 2009, and up to 10 in five years.  The stores will serve the 7 million Hong Kongers as well as the 29.5 million visitors to Hong Kong each year, mostly from mainland China according to figures from Invest HK.  Having succeeded in a bid for the franchise over roughly 6 other groups, Ricky and Thomas are confident they have the skills and commitment to meet these targets.  The partners also have the rights to Macau and the option for China and Taiwan.

A grant to Ontario based Pillitteri Estates Winery, to study study the viability of icewine in China is now raising eyebrows here at home.

In 2006, Pillitteri received a $108,263 grant from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).  Pillitteri, one of the largest producers of icewine in Canada, collaborated with Xingiang winery in Xinjiang and The Great Wall Winery in Beijing as part of its project.  From this, Pillitteri is soon to sell its icewine under the Xingiang Winery label.  Currently, Pillitteri’s icewine sales in China are around $1 million a year via six agents in the country. 

What has put the winery in the headlines lately, is that CIDA is currently undergoing an audit (and with it, some criticism as well) to determine if CIDA’s funding is going towards the right activities.  For example, one question raised is if its funding should be used in China at all.  Funds are intended to be used to help the poorest countries, and yet China is a quickly emerging powerhouse.   Another question is that are investments in alcohol and lingerie what CIDA should be funding?  Pillitteri, as well as a Montreal underwear and lingerie manufacturer that received $103,000, were two companies singled out in a recent article.    

Charles Pillitteri told the Canadian Press his project is successful and worthwhile as he is not only meeting, but exceeding the goals he set out to do.  His winery spent four times as much as his grant amount, and is set to go beyond his goal of creating 30 jobs in China. He also said he guided his Chinese partners on the hiring of women and other human rights issues.  In addition to this, Pillitteri is instructing his partners on how to make the icewine themselves. 

Since its creation in 1978, CIDA has given over $1 billion to Canadian companies for nearly 4,000 projects.  To date, 972 have been successful.  CIDA remarks that more than $10 billion were invested in “recipient” partner countries, and this in turn has increased the Canadian sales by $6 million.  CIDA’s 2006-2007 report is slated to be released in six weeks, and the auditors are still at work, but there remains questions in the minds of many.  So for now, judgment is left to the court of public opinion.

Photo by by dagmar61

I’m not the only Canadian who has just returned from Hong Kong.  Gerry Ritz, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and his staff were also on my flight home Saturday.  As I mentioned last week, the minister was speaking to a business audience in Hong Kong on Thursday about Canada’s exemplary food safety record.  Later he signed an agreement-in-principle with Hong Kong to expand Canada’s beef exports.

Duncan Mavin of the National Post attended the Minister’s speech last week and spoke to the head of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association.  Here’s an excerpt from his story:

The cattle chief also scents opportunity here in Asia’s street markets, where vendors boil and fry parts of the cow most Canadians won’t touch and all manner of offal hangs from the hooks in the butchers’ stores.

“People think of beef as steak cuts, but there are a lot of beef products other than that, some that we [in Canada] don’t even eat,” he [Brad Wildeman, President of the Canadian Cattlemen's Association] said.

In addition to there being no domestic market for some cuts, there are also other products, such as beef tongue, that are eaten at home but that fetch a much higher price in Asia — as much as $22 rather than $1.50 for tongue in Canada.

In all, if Canadian farmers could sell in Asia some products that might otherwise be tossed away or into the grinder, it would add another $100 or 10% to the value of each animal, Mr. Wildeman estimates.

As I’ve explained in other stories, Canadian food products are generally considered high quality and safe in Hong Kong.  Already some Canadian beef is on the shelves.  Growth in the Hong Kong market will definitely benefit Canadian producers, and with any luck, it will then open doors to other larger markets in the region.

Now back in Canada after a busy and satisfying trip, I thought I’d share a few more impressions of Hong Kong.

One of the clear differences between Hong Kong and Canada is the sheer number of people in a relatively small place.  The population of about 7 million lives in a small part of Hong Kong.  As I said in my first post, it has caused the city to build up instead of out.  Schools for instance, occupy buildings of multiple floors.  The Canadian International School which I’ll write about in a later story, has 9 floors and is built on a narrow piece of land.  Stores and restaurants can be found on upper floors of a building which give no hint as to commercial space on the ground floor levels, leaving you to wonder how people ever find them. 

In fact, there are stores and market stalls everywhere.  I’ve never seen so many.  Every luxury brand in the world appears to be present in the market, with many locations throughout the city.  Local businesses sell every kind of product imaginable in what, not unlike in Toronto, seem to be themed areas.  For instance, from the window of my car, I observed an area with nothing but sewing items:  buttons by the thousands in one block, fabric swatches displayed from floor to ceiling in another, tiny commercial spaces filled with spools of threads of every colour.  In another part of the city one tiny store after another was displaying lighting fixtures of every shape, colour and size, and so on.  The photo above is from the open market stalls in the SoHo area which sell meats and vegetables as well as other merchandise. Continue reading ‘Parting impressions of Hong Kong’

Not unlike in North America, the economy is first and foremost on the minds of Hong Kong residents and officials.  Last Thursday in the Legislative council Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen used concerns about the economy to confirm delays in consultation regarding electoral reform.  He explained that the jobless rate is expected to rise above 4%.  Low by North American standards, the unemployment rate in Hong Kong generally hovers between 2.5 and 3%.

Consumer confidence has been shaken, banks have become more reticent to lend, and businesses have been constrained by the inability to obtain credit from the banks.

The Hong Kong government has put many measures in place to help reduce the impact of the economic tsunami, as it is called in this part of the world. Programs aimed at businesses are available to all registered Hong Kong businesses, even if they are subsidiaries of offshore companies, for instance from Canada. Continue reading ‘Concerns about economy inspire business support in Hong Kong’

From across the table at the Lobster Lounge in my hotel over a cup of tea, Duncan Mavin, National Post’s Asia Business Correspondent, found himself on the other side of the questions for a change.

Businesspeople in Canada interested in learning more about the region, need only read Mavin’s articles to learn about the latest economic news in Asia, business people or politicians in the news, or cultural insights.  VENTURES has linked to his stories many times and so I thought it a good opportunity to meet the guy behind the byline.

Hong Kong’s distance from the National Post head office in Don Mills, Ontario changes the way Mavin works.  On one hand, it means that Canadian stories that wouldn’t catch the media’s interest at home, are newsworthy simply because they’re happening on this side of the world.  That’s great for Canadian companies whose corporate announcements often earn more ink here. Continue reading ‘Canadian reporter talks about filing from afar’

“Canadian products mean a sense of quality to people in Hong Kong.”  Ricky Takasu and Thomas Lau (L to R), two of four Canadian partners who’ve opened the New York Fries franchise in Kowloon at one of the highest profile malls in town, Harbour City.

Watch for their full story in the weeks to come.

Every Hong Kong resident likely eats Canadian food every day and doesn’t even know it.  That according to The Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong.  Canadian beef is visible on the shelves, having never been subject to a ban in Hong Kong.  And one of the up-and-comers is ice wine.  On a quick foray into a wine store I spotted two Ontario wines:  Mission Hill and Pillitteri.  Grocery stores here are filled however with staples of the Hong Kong diet stamped with the maple leaf – vegetable and canola oils, ginseng, and soy sauce and tofu made from Canadian soya beans, to name a few.

In fact, Amoy, the number one selling soy sauce in Hong Kong, uses Canadian soy beans and is planning to market this advantage according to John Zimmerman, Consul & Senior Trade Commissioner with the Consulate General of Canada.  As Zimmerman explained, Hong Kong people know that they “can trust our water, air and soil” and are willing to pay extra for a safe, high quality product.

The significance of our relatively strong safety record hasn’t been lost on the Canadian government.  Federal Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Gerry Ritz, will visit Hong Kong on Thursday this week to further promote Canada’s commitment to food safety.

Andrew Work of The Canadian Chamber in Hong Kong emphasized that Canadian success in the food and beverage industry doesn’t end there.  As he gave me a tour of the SoHo district in Hong Kong (SoHo stands for SOuth of HOllywood Road although you have to walk ‘up’ to get there from Hollywood Road or use the covered escalators called by the Guinness World Records the world’s longest covered escalator), he explained that Canadians are strong players in every level of the food and beverage industry. 

From agri-food supplies, to restaurants and hotels, Canadians have a very strong presence in Hong Kong.  Later this week I’ll report on my exploration of the lively Lan Kwai Fong district but in the meantime, Work pointed out a few of the Canadian owned restaurants in his neighbourhood. 

Some of them are fairly obvious ( ie. Canucck) while others prefer to be ingognito (ie. Soho Spice).  In fact, in our tour of just a few short blocks, Andrew was able to point out more than half a dozen Canadian eating hotspots and the journey had just begun!

Stay tuned as the Canadian taste tour continues in Hong Kong later this week.  Tomorrow in fact, I’ll be speaking with an entrepreneur whose fast food restaurant just opened to great acclaim in the city.  Any Hong Kong resident who has ever lived in Canada, knows this chain well from its faithful position in malls from Pickering to Timmins.  You’ll never guess who ….