While China accounts for about half of the world's pork production, questions have surfaced about China's ability to sustain the rapid increases in its domestic consumption of pork.

On Thursday representatives of the Canadian Pork Council and Canada Pork International will begin a one week fact finding mission in China.

Canadian Pork Council executive director Martin Rice notes, in the last year or two, new opportunities have emerged in that nation for Canadian pork.

Martin Rice-Canadian Pork Council

This fact finding mission is built up around a world pork conference taking place in Nanjing, China.

So we're taking a group of approximately 16 representatives of the production industry across Canada which also includes some other resource people.

And we will be visiting a feed mill company, we'll be seeing two or three pork processing operations, we'll be visiting the markets, seeing the distribution system that exists in China as well as meeting with representatives of their industry associations at the levels of animal production and also visiting with some government officials in Beijing dealing with specific topics such as how China sees its own animal production industry growing, how it sees itself being able to produce the feedgrains that are needed to build that and whether they see themselves as a growing exporter or importer of pork meat.

Rice notes, in the past, Canada's participation in the Chinese market has focused on trimmings and non skeletal cuts such as organ meats.

However, he says, with the rapid increase in Chinese pork disappearance plus the disease challenges they've had in the last year, sales of the regular cuts have become much more possible and we see opportunities for significant growth in China over the next five years.