In order to promote Mexican avocado consumption in China, ProMéxico and Tmall Fresh, Alibaba Group's B2C online sales platform, launched a digital campaign last September 11th.
ProMéxico reported that as part of this campaign, opinion leaders and bloggers from the Asian country could taste more than 100 dishes prepared with the Mexican product, during an event transmitted online to Chinese netizens.
The event was coordinated by ProMexico's Shanghai office, which thanked Tmall Fresh for the promotion of Mexican avocado consumption and highlighted a strong product demand in China of 15 million avocados per year, with an annual growth of over of 200 percent.
After the launch, Tmall Fresh activated a promotion on its main virtual platforms for two days, which resulted in the sale of 500 thousand pieces of Mexican avocado, which is equivalent to 80 tons of this fruit.
The Mexican trust that promotes international trade and investment said that 75 percent of the fruit's consumers in China are women, mostly motivated by the nutritional properties of the product and its benefits to the skin.
The cities with the highest demand for the product are Shanghai, Beijing, Hangzhou and Guangzhou, they said in a statement.
Previously, Chun Bo, an online food products retailer (organic, green and non-transgenic), and ProMexico carried out a program of activities to promote the inclusion of avocados in the diet of Chinese consumers, by promoting the variety of dishes that can be prepared with this food.
As part of that program, 50 people were able to cook and taste dishes made with avocados as a basic ingredient and, at the end of the activity, that took place in the interactive museum in the district of Huangpu, the dishes were classified and awarded for their flavor.
He pointed out that the participants knew how to select an avocado, as well as options to include such fruit as an entree, a main course and even, as dessert.
He pointed out that Chinese consumers prefer imported avocados. Currently, Mexico, Chile and Peru are the countries that meet the phytosanitary protocol to market avocado in China; other countries, such as Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, are in the process of negotiating their respective protocols for the entry of their production to the Asian giant.
Mexico is the main producer of avocados in the world, with 176 thousand hectares planted, and a production that between 2004 and 2014 grew at an annual rate of 4.4 percent to reach a volume higher than 1.5 million tons, according to the Agrifood and Fisheries Information Service (SIAP).
Source: Notimex