China Is Going Wild for Offal from Spanish Pigs

When you think of Spanish cuisine, your mind is likely to settle, first and foremost, on that most iconic national dish: jamón, the cured pig leg that's found on many Spanish kitchen counters and which also makes its way into a variety of dishes, from pan con tomate to ham-wrapped spears of white asparagus. Spaniards love their jamón, but they also adore many other parts of the pig, which show up, variously, in chorizos, morcillas, and many other preparations. But while Spain might savor most cuts of the pig, it often wants nothing to do with its innards. Luckily, the country has found a market for its pigs' off-cuts—brains, stomachs, intestines, and the like—in China, which is importing the scraps in growing numbers.

According to the Spanish news site The Local, Spain exported 76.3 million euros' worth of pork offal to China last year, an increase of 24 percent over 2013's 59.2 million euro export. But it's not just innards that China wants: the country is the world's fourth-largest importer of Spanish pork, behind France, Portugal, and Italy, and bought up 109 million euros' worth of bacon, trotters, and more last year.

It makes sense that Spain would truck its cuts of Babe and his cohorts to neighbors France, Portugal, and Italy. But why would it want to send its pig livers over a distance of more than 5,000 miles, to China? The likely explanation is Russia's ban on all imports of EU meat products, effected last August to retaliate against countries that imposed sanctions on Russia for continuing its war against Ukraine. Having lost a key market, Spain has cast its eye even further afield in search of a ready pork audience, an official with Spain's meat export office told The Local.

"Since the closure of the Russian market, our exporters have been looking towards alternative Asian markets," José Manuel Alvarez said. "We are hoping to significantly increase exports to China in the coming years because of the opportunity it presents."

It's a commercial arrangement likely to satisfy both countries, as pig offal features prominently in such classic Chinese dishes as stewed bung, or pork intestines, and pork liver soup. Finally, with Russia out of the game, there are enough Spanish off-cuts in the country to satisfy China's many innards-lovers.