On September 7th, the Pagoda's meeting for global suppliers convened in Hong Kong. More than 200 people from Zespri in New Zealand, SunWorld in the U.S.A., AgroFresh in the U.S.A. and other giant farms from more than ten other international fruit producing countries and regions attended. This year's supplier meeting was the largest in scope since Pagoda started hosting them 15 years ago. It was also the first time the meeting has taken place in Hong Kong.
Among all the activities that night, the one that attracted the most attention was the ceremony in which Pagoda sign a cooperative agreement with the global tycoon in supplying technologies to preserve fruit, AgroFresh. Holding all guests present as a witness, the chairman of Pagoda, Yu Huiyong, and AgroFresh's CEO, Jordi Ferre, contractually agreed to jointly set up an after-harvest processing center for fruit in China. Both parties will invest in the project and devote efforts to researching the difficulties of processing fruit after harvest. This way they will be able to reduce the damage done to fruit during the transportation and storing periods, and they will be able to guarantee the freshness and quality of fruits, and can increase the market value of fruit.
The firm AGroFresh was founded in 1999. Its headquarters are located in Philadelphia in the American state of Pennsylvania. It is the sole owner of the patent of SmartFresh, a smart quality system. Currently they are registered and active in more than 40 countries all over the world. The smart quality system SmartFresh is a technology that preserves fruit using 1-MCP (1-methylcyclopropene). It mainly helps vegetables and fruits that are easily damaged during long transportation or storage periods, keeping away the ethylene from internal and external sources which usually would cause fruit to ripen, and thus maintaining freshness and good quality. The technology can also maintain the thickness, veins and appearance of fruit during transportation and storage, keeping the fruit fresh at all times. It is currently the most effective technology available to keep fruit fresh. The technology is already widely used in developed countries to preserve fruit, vegetables and plants or flowers, but has only now officially received the permission of the Chinese agricultural industry's examination office to register in China.
The CEO of AgroFresh, Jordi Ferre, has expressed that they chose to partner with Pagoda because they respect the market capacity of Pagoda on the Chinese market. Pagoda is the largest chain retailer for fruit in China, but it also posesses its own plantations, technologies and R&D centers. We believe that in cooperation with Pagoda, we will be able to enhance our R&D on processing after harvesting fruit. Furthermore, both partners can also solidify their R&D in fruit preservation technologies, and thus a win-win situation will be created in which both will share in the profits from the market.
Reports state that Pagoda currently owns more than 2,500 stores in China and operates more than 200 bases internationally. For this fast-expanding company, fruit preservation is a very important item in their growth strategy. The cooperation with AgroFresh is another step forward in their evolution. At the same time, they also hope to let customers taste more fresh and tasty fruit.