China: Consumer preference drives up fruit prices

"In the past few years, due to a rise in living standards and an increasing awareness of the health benefits of fruit, the consumer, when buying fresh fruits, focuses more on product quality and country of origin. Based on my personal observations, there is a upwards trend emerging on the consumer market. There is a stronger demand from people with higher incomes for high quality fruit with relatively high prices. People with lower incomes also increasingly demand higher quality fruits," states Mr. Baggio Wang of Dalian Tianbao Green Foods.

Employees are sorting cherries

Imported bananas

"We purchase all kinds of fruit from production sites all over the world. After we have imported them to China, through the ports of Dalian, Shenzhen and Shanghai, we sell them mainly through traditional sales channels to distributors, supermarkets and fruit chains in first and second tier cities."

"Our imported fruit includes bananas and durian from Vietnam, durian from Thailand, cherries from Chile, and avocadoes from Mexico. Simultaneously, we grown our own fruit on our production sites, and purchase fruit from several large domestic production sites, which we sell to the domestic and international markets. Our import to export ratio is now 7:3."

Fresh cherries

Packed apples ready for shipment

"After we had successfully opened the South-Asian, South-East Asian and Russian market, last year, we tried to export six containers of apples to America and Canada. The market reacted well, and we received many more export orders. Because of this, we plan to expand our export this year. Currently, we are working on sending Dalian cherries to Macao. In Dalian, we have a production area of around 400 hectares (4000 mu). We produce fruits like apples, cherries and pears. Moreover, we have our own automatic sorting equipment from New Zealand. That means that we can satisfy our customers' demand for high quality products. This ensures our advantageous position on the market."

Covered banana production

Measuring the sugar level of apples

"In the future, while we are steadily developing our market, we hope to expand to supermarkets and distributors in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and the northeast, and to build relationships with more fruit importers. We also want to bring more premium fruit from abroad to the Chinese dining table, such as durian from Thailand. To give our partners the opportunity to get to know us better, we will attend many different fruit and vegetable exhibitions, such as Asia Fruit Logistica in Hong Kong in September. We are looking forward to seeing you at our stand 3-V07."

Baggio Wang
Import & Export Manager of fruits and vegetables
Dalian Tianbao Green Foods
Website: http://www.cn-tianbao.com/
Phone: +86 411 3995 9276
Fax: +86 411 3995 9033
Mobile: +86 135 9180 9315
Email: fruit@cn-tianbao.com