Brazil's main farming association said on Thursday it would open a representative office in Beijing next week in a bid to boost exports to the growing Chinese consumer market and lure investment.
"By 2015, 30 million Chinese are expected to move up to the middle class, expanding significantly the local demand for food," said Senator Katia Abreu, president of the Confederation of Agriculture and Livestock (CNA).
"This is an opportunity for Brazil, with its more sustainable production, to supply the market with dairy, meat and agricultural products with higher added value," added Abreu in a statement.
Abreu, who will lead the CNA delegation at Wednesday's inauguration, visited China in April.
As well as supply side offers, she said representatives would seek openings for direct investments in Brazilian infrastructure, especially in logistics and strategic storage of farm products.
"Investment in these areas will reduce transportation costs, which will ultimately reduce the final price of products sold to the Chinese market," she added.
CNA's Beijing office will also seek to bring Brazilian suppliers and Chinese importers closer together and thus boost bilateral trade, the group said.
China is Brazil's largest trading partner in the farming sector, importing $14.6 billion of agricultural products, mainly soybean, last year.
But Abreu called for greater diversification of Brazilian farm exports to China, the world's most populous nation with 1.3 billion people and the world's second economic power behind only the United States.
