Hortifrut stated on Monday that it had signed a joint venture agreement with Joy Wing Mau Agricultural Produce Corporation (JWM), the largest fruit industry group in China and a subsidiary of Legend Holding Corporation, to create a new company with the goal of developing and leading the fresh berries business in mainland China.
In this new venture, Hortifrut will retain 51% of the ownership and the parties will jointly invest in berry planting projects to strengthen this products' supply and strategic position in China and Asia. To this end, they plan to start plantations in mainland China in early 2018.
As a result of the agreement, Hortifrut will provide high-quality varieties of blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, and strawberries to be produced by the new company.
Hortifrut's mission is to combine and support local production in China with berries from all over the world in the counter station, thus delivering the most robust offering of the entire berries category in China throughout the year.
In turn, JWM's mission will be to deliver the best distribution service for Hortifrut so that they can jointly serve the best customers of the Chinese industry. JWM has more than 20 subsidiaries that encompass production, storage, logistics, import, export, and distribution. In addition, it has offices in 80 cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Qingdao, and 40 distribution centers throughout China that supply over 2,000 sales points that allow them to reach more than a billion consumers.
Last year, Hortifrut signed an agreement with Munger Farms, the largest producer of blueberries on the west coast of the United States.
"We are very excited to share our "All Berries to All of China, All Year" dream with our JWM partners, as we believe that the Chinese market will become the most important market in the world and we will be a very significant part of it," said Victor Moller, President of Hortifrut.
Source: SimFRUIT according to a press release