China's e-commerce giant Alibaba Group has made a nearly two billion U.S.dollar purchase of meat products from foreign firms at China's international import expo. The group's refrigeration supply chains and online retail platforms are expected to help Chinese consumers get more quality meat from around the world. CGTN's Han Peng reports.

Fresh from the other side of the world.

For many Chinese, the sizzling beef on the grill is more than just a Western dish. It represents fancy and delicate Western lifestyles.

HAN PENG SHANGHAI "It's interesting that while many of the Chinese people are still learning the Western table etiquette of how to eat a steak properly, a lot of foreign importers are already learning to introduce their foreign beef into the Chinese cuisine."

SERGIO GUSTAVO REY ARGENTINE BEEF PROMOTION INSTITUTE "We are producing recipe videos on WeChat. Something we realized is that the Chinese consumers, even if they like to try new products, they appreciate a lot their own cuisine."

China is now the world's biggest beef consumption market.

But this Argentine exhibitor says, to sell beef in the Chinese market, smart online advertising isn't enough.

Freshness is the key.

HUGO A. BORRELL, GENERAL MANAGER ARRE BEEF "We are working together with the importers of China to develop the e-commerce and the chains to try to find a way to reduce the long transit time from Argentina to China."

At the import expo, China's e-commerce giant Alibaba signed major deals with foreign meat producers.

Alibaba says it will purchase a 1.9 billion U.S. dollars' worth of fresh meat over the next five years.

CHEN REN WIN-CHAIN MARKETING DIRECTOR "So when we talk about freshness of the products, we have cold chain logistics partners who work through the whole process to bring the products all the way to China. And also we'll have channels in the whole ecosystem, like the major retail channels TMall supermarket, selling and marketing the products to the Chinese consumers."

Europe's largest meat producer Danish Crown secured a 400 million dollar sales in this deal.

JAIS VALEUR, CEO DANISH CROWN "I think the Chinese consumers have really changed. They are online, and when they make an order, they want it now. Before we ship them from Denmark, and then we have a long shipping time. But now we ship all of them to China, and we have it ready, so when consumers make their order on the Alibaba system, they can get them instantly. So we changed from weeks into hours."

From global farms to the Chinese table, customers here want imported meat—fresh and fast. Han Peng, CGTN, Shanghai.