Conference in Barcelona about China and the world in 2020

From http://www.casaasia.cat/actividad/detalle?id=210699 (in Catalan)

[caption id="attachment_2255" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Beijing airport, November 2012[/caption]

On Monday, May 27th 2013, Caixa Forum Barcelona will host the conference "China and the world: Towards 2020" by Professor Pedro Nueno (Professor in the Department of Entrepreneurship IESE and Professor and President of CEIBS Shanghai) and organized by CEIBS with the collaboration of Casa Àsia.

This session will analyze how the continued growth of China can affect the world's economy, the different currencies, the resources and the pollution. From a European perspective, Professor Pedro Nueno will also discuss how can we benefit from both the massive investments of Chinese companies abroad and also from the already increasing Chinese tourism that is visiting our continent.

The event will take place at Caixa Forum Barcelona, Avinguda Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia, 6-8, 08038 Barcelona, at 7 pm. Entrance will be free with previous registration by email at croy@ceibs.edu (please include name, surname and phone number).

 

Barcelona based Galeria Mayoral at the Hong Kong's edition of Art Basel

From http://www.galeriamayoral.com/en/Fires/Basel%20Hong%20Kong/21/ (in English)

Barcelona-based Galeria Mayoral is attending the Hong Kong's edition of Art Basel, where there will be on display the highest quality of paintings, sculptures, drawings, installations, photographs, video and artworks from the 20th and 21st centuries, by more than 2,000 artists from Asia and around the globe. Galeria Mayoral is going to display a Solo Show Miró, based on the works of renowned Catalan painter Joan Miró.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="414"] Personnages et oiseaux, by Joan Miró (Image from Art Basel website)[/caption]

Catalan wineries aim at Chinese market to overcome crisis

From http://www.lavanguardia.com/ocio/20130515/54374110984/bodegueros-catalanes-china-exterior-crisis.html (in Spanish)

Catalan wine producers are increasingly looking abroad to try to overcome the crisis and they are specially aiming at the Chinese market and other markets outside of Europe, according to Núria Ruiz, export manager of the Associació Vinícola Catalana (Catalan Wine Association), an organization that represents 90% of the bottled wine produced in Catalonia.

Núria Ruiz has explained that 70 Catalan wineries are currently taking part in the promotion actions organized by the Associació Vinícola Catalana to promote their products outside of European Union. The requirements for the wineries to be eligible for these promotion actions are to have their headquarters in Catalonia, to sell wines and cava wines with a Catalan controlled designation of origin, to have retail prices from 15 US dollars and to have received at least 89 points in Robert Parker's Wine Advocate or at least 90 points in other prestigious national and/or international wine guides.

Núria Ruiz also explains that because of the crisis and the decrease of consumption in Spain, there is a growing interest to export abroad. 25 Catalan wineries are already working together to promote their products in the Food & Hotel 2013 trade fair (2013上海国际食品饮料及餐饮设备展览会) in Shanghai in November 2013, that will include the ProWine China 2013 fair (2013上海国际葡萄酒展). There they will try to reach commercial agreements with wine distributors and representatives of supermarkets in order to reach the final consumer through the most direct way.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Grapes in a vine, Tarragona province (September 2012)[/caption]

Banyoles organizes second edition of the Dragon Boat Festival

From http://dragonboatbanyoles.com

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="576"] 2nd Dragon Boat Festival in Banyoles, 18 May 2013[/caption]

After a succesful first edition in 2012, Club Natació Banyoles and Agenda Sports & Elements, in collaboration with the Banyoles City Council and Casa Asia are organizing a second edition of the Dragon Boat Festival (龍船節) in Banyoles Lake for May 18th, 2013. Further information can be found at http://dragonboatbanyoles.com.

Disclosed first movies for the Asian Summer Film Festival in Vic

From http://cinemaoriental.com/ca/portfolio-item/avanc-de-programacio (in Catalan)

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Image from the movie Joyful Reunion (飲食男女好遠又好近) from Film Business Asia website[/caption]

This year the Asian Summer Film Festival (Festival Nits de Cinema Oriental) will project more movies than ever before. Sixteen titles will be displayed in the official competition of the festival to win the Lucky Cat (Gat de la Sort), given by popular votes. The festival will also display a selection of Taiwanese films, of morning children's movies and other special night projections.

So far, these are the movies that have been announced for this year's festival:

• The Last Tycoon (大上海), by Wong Jing (王晶)


• Wu Dang (大武当之天地密码), by Patrick Leung (梁柏坚)


• Lost in Thailand (人再囧途之泰囧), by Xu Zheng (徐峥)


• Joyful Reunion (飲食男女— 好遠又好近), by Tsao Jui-Yuan (曹瑞原)


• Barfi!, by Anurag Basu

 

The opening movie will be The Soul of Bread (愛的麵包魂), by Sean Kao (高炳權) and Lin Chun-Yang (林君陽).



Finally, the festival organizers also presented this year's poster, with the mascot Xi Wang, the Formosa bear.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="300"] 2013 poster of the Asian Summer Film Festival in Vic with the mascot Xi Wang, the Formosa bear[/caption]

La Jabugueña Iberian cured ham aims at Chinese market

From http://www.elpuntavui.cat/noticia/article/4-economia/18-economia/643309-la-jabuguena-de-salt-entra-al-mercat-xines.html (in Catalan)

La Jabugueña, a company based in Salt (Girona province) and devoted to the production and distribution of Iberian cured pork products, is aiming at the Chinese market and because of that has recently attended the the Hofex trade fair in Hong Kong. The 35-year-old company has a processing plant in Salt for the meat coming from the Iberian pigs raised on their estate in Jabugo (Huelva province). According to Yolanda Escuredo, "it is a great business opportunity for us because it is a country with a high number of consumers of Iberian cured ham and despite having different food habits they are big lovers of this kind of meat". Ham production in East Asia has a much shorter curation process and it is mainly eaten cooked, which gives La Jabugueña's Iberian curated ham a selective advantage. To increase exports is a present priority for La Jabugueña, a company that despite their solid position in Spanish market has seen an important decline of their sales in the home market. However, they are also witnessing an important increase in sales abroad, like Japan, where nearly 50% of exports are sold, followed by Austria, Russia, Denmark and Santo Domingo.

Food industries from Girona province promote products in China

From http://www.diaridegirona.cat/economia/2013/05/07/sector-agroalimentari-gironi-promociona-productes-xina/616184.html (in Catalan)

After the visit of Chinese importers in April 2013 to knowx Catalan meat industries, nine food companies from Girona province, mostly from the meat sector, have showcased their products in the SIAL and Hofex trade fairs in Shanghai and Hong Kong, respectively.

 

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="104"] SIAL - The Asian Food Marketplace[/caption]

SIAL is Asia's Leading Food & Beverage Exhibition and it is a key reference to enter the China's food market. This year's exhibition is expected to receive around 35,000 professional visitors and the companies from the Girona province attending this event are Frigorífics Costa Brava (meat products, certified to export to China), Friselva, Grup Batallé, Iberdigest and Miquel Alimentació Grup.

 

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="196"] Hofex Hong Kong[/caption]

Hofex is a biennial trade fair specialized in food and drinks that is reaching its 15th edition. In the previous edition it hosted 1,800 companies and 33,000 professionals of the sector and it is the main event of this kind in the region.  The companies from the Girona province taking part in Hofex 2013 are Casademont (meat products), La Jabugueña (Iberian meat products), Mas Parés (foie and duck products), and Vichy Catalán (drinks). Despite of the reduced size of the market in Hong Kong, it is a very attractive one because of both the high economic level of the residents and its strategic location to re-export the food products to other areas in the region, specially to China.