Meanwhile the thrifty meat wholesaler Sanu Khadgi has now changed this. He has made sure that people living in the capital Kathmandu now has the chance of eating Danish pork meat from Danish Crown.

In July the first 20 ft container filled with pork loins with bones, hams, bellies and spare ribs arrived in Kathmandu.

"This has been a really exciting job initiating the first Danish pork meat export to Nepal and now we are naturally excited to learn how our products are received by the consumers," says Peter Frederiksen, export manager in Danish Crown.

Visit to Denmark Paved the Way

ESS-FOOD, a subsidiary of Danish Crowns, was initially in the month of March contacted by Sanu Khadgi, who showed an interest in importing Danish pork meat to Nepal.

"I do not know of anyone in the Danish pork meat sector selling raw material to Nepal prior to this, but Mr Khadgi’s company in Kathmandu already has a firm knowledge of Denmark. He therefore decided to come to Denmark to see Danish Crown slaughterhouses and product quality in his own eyes," says Lars Bo Hansen, Area Export Manager in ESS-FOOD.

Challenging Transportation

Lars Bo Hansen and Peter Frederiksen received the guest from Nepal themselves at the Danish Crowns pig slaughterhouse in Ringsted and following a successful visit the parties agreed on the first shipment of Danish Crown pork meat to Nepal.

The country does not have any ports so the container with Danish pork meat was sent to Calcutta in India. From there it was shipped by lorry which may only carry 20 ft containers due to the mountain route conditions. The trip from Calcutta to Kathmandu and back to the port takes two weeks.

"Initially these are relatively small sized quantities but time will tell how large they may grow into in future. At any rate we are prepared when content of the first container has been sold in Nepal shops," says Peter Frederiksen.