"Beijing Hortipolaris is located in an industrial park in Miyun District of Beijing. The greenhouses cover 3.3 hectares and include 2.2 hectares of tomato plantations and 2000m2 of lettuce plantation, as well as 2000m2 of nursery garden. We began planting small tomatoes on February 15th, 2018, and already collected the first harvest in mid-April. The supply season will last until late July. In the first month, from mid-April until mid-May, we harvested around 100 tons of small tomatoes. We estimate to have a monthly harvest of 90-100 tons." This is according to Xu Dan, CEO of Beijing Hortipolaris Co., Ltd.
Xu Dan, CEO of Beijing Hortipolaris, at the small tomato plantation
Small tomato plantation
"We closely cooperate with two Dutch seed companies to research and develop product varieties. Our team visited several Dutch companies last year to exchange information and learn from experience, all to find the most suitable small tomato flavor for Chinese consumers. We also organized several food tasting activities to give consumers a taste of various possible flavors. Next week, we will visit the Dutch seed companies again to review the new small tomato varieties and evaluate the plant experiments and food tasting activities. This will improve our understanding of each product variety."
Workers harvest the small tomatoes
Small tomato plantation
"The production volume of small tomatoes exceed our expectations because north China had relatively abundant sunshine. The price is still very reasonable. This small tomato variety is already considered in Europe to have a high sugar content, but feedback from Chinese consumers shows that they prefer even sweeter varieties. We will put even more effort in research and development of product varieties to satisfy Chinese consumers."
Boxed small tomatoes
"There actually is a year round supply of cherry tomatoes on the Chinese market, but most of them are Qianxi varieties. Bunched small tomatoes have only arrived on the market in large volumes in the last two years. Market feedback shows that bunched small tomatoes better meet modern consumer preference for certain product appearance and packaging. We sell our small tomatoes under our brand 'polaris' through medium- and high-end supermarkets in Shenzhen, Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. We currently are in negotiation with such e-commerce platforms as JD. We hope to provide even more consumers with a taste of small tomatoes through e-commerce platforms in the near future."
Boxed small tomatoes
"We sell our small tomatoes in boxes. One box contains one bunch. Each bunch weighs 260-300 grams. We also provide Chinese consumers with gift boxes for special occasions. Market feedback shows that our consumer audience consists of three main groups: first, young people with fast-paced lives who pay attention to healthy foods; second, middle-aged consumers who appreciate the appearance and strong flavor of small tomatoes; third, children who find large tomatoes difficult to eat. To these children our small tomatoes look good, taste excellent, and fit perfectly."
Xu Dan
Beijing Hortipolaris
Company telephone: +86 138 1022 2990
Company e-mail: dan.xu@hortipolaris.com