Pictured above: Jayson Clark, Director of CFN Packaging

Lincolnshire firm CFN Packaging is turning the tables on China by exporting its first shipment to the People's Republic.

CFN Packaging, which is based in Skegness, has sold a consignment of its degradable polythene additive Biothene® to China.

The shipment was purchased by CFN's agent Envisage Technology Ltd, a distributor of antimicrobial, degradable and fragrant additives based in Hong Kong and Shenzhen in the Guangdong district of China.

The gap between Chinese exports to the UK and UK exports to China is narrowing, but the difference is still marked: China imports $6.19 billion of goods to the UK while the UK sends only $1.52 billion of goods in the opposite direction.

"We have been agents for CFN Packaging for about a year but this is the first time we have imported the company's degradable polythene additive Biothene®," said Kevin Lau of Envisage Technology.

"We supply many Chinese manufacturers and we expect that Biothene® will prove to be very popular. It perform wells and it will sell well in the near future.

"A great many businesses in China have expressed an interest in Biothene® and we certainly expect to be importing more of this product."

According to Jayson Clark, Director of CFN Packaging, the world is getting smaller thanks to communications technology, which makes exporting easie even for small family firms like CFN.

"We've promoted Biothene® online and it's thanks to the Internet that we're now making inroads in the export market," he explained.

"There's tremendous potential for growth in China and this momentum, coupled with an increasing awareness of environmental issues in that country, makes China a fertile market for green products like Biothene®."

CFN Packaging is also spearheading an export drive to India and eastern European countries such as Romania.