Costa Rica to boost dairy exports to China

China will present one of the largest export opportunities for Costa Rican dairy products in 2014, when the latter's Dos Pinos cooperative increases the number of containers it ships monthly to the Asian country to 100.

Sanitary protocols enabling Costa Rica to export dairy to China were met earlier this year and Dos Pinos, the country's largest dairy producer, is poised to make the most of the development.

Dos Pinos has already shipped more than 42 tons of milk and cream, worth nearly 40,000 U.S. dollars, to China, according to figures from the Foreign Trade Promotion Office (Procomer).

In an interview with Xinhua, Costa Rica's Minister of Agriculture and Livestock Gloria Abraham said Dos Pinos' entry into the Chinese market is a great development for Costa Rican producers, because the cooperative represents almost 90 percent of the milk production in the Central American country.

Costa Rica has worked hand-in-hand with Chinese authorities to obtain the necessary licenses, said Abraham, which allowed the country in August to send its first shipments of milk to China.

"We began with two or three shipping containers of milk to China and now there are contracts for 100 shipping containers a month for next year, which represents a huge increase and a great acceptance of the quality of a Costa Rican product," said the minister.