The Shanghai Agricultural Trade Center joined with the Trade Promotion Agency of Andalusia (hereafter 'Extenda') to organize the Spanish Andalusia Citrus Fruit Promotional Meeting in the Shanghai Shenyarui Harmony Orchard on March 12th, 2019.
Chinese imports of Spanish citrus fruit grew threefold over the last few years. Top-quality fresh fruit from Europe opened up many new business opportunities in China. This meeting brings together resources in the industry through the leadership of many associations and authoritative specialists in the industry, as well as traders from all over China. They come to this meeting to share the most recent information on developments in the industry and to promote top-quality fruit.
Group picture of Spanish delegates
Representatives of associations, industry specialists, and traders gathered at the meeting in Shanghai
In the morning, everybody went to the fruit market in the Shanghai International Convention and Exhibition Center. Here they gained a deeper understanding of the fruit plantation and retail conditions in Shanghai. The meeting officially opened in the afternoon. Jose Rodriguez, chair of the Andalusia Fruit Association, was one of the guests of honor. He presented a keynote speech in which he analyzed the fresh fruit industry from the viewpoint of commercial trade. The growing consumption of fresh fruit is becoming increasingly clear. Rodriguez is a specialist in the fruit industry who also highlighted in his speech how companies can connect with the consumer market. His explanation on the degree of "sweetness and sourness" in "Super Premium" top-quality fresh fruit attracted people's attention."
Jose Rodriguez, chair of the Andalusia Fruit Association, talked about the degree of "sweetness and sourness" in citrus fruit
The Chinese fruit market is only focused on one flavor: sweetness. Jose Rodriguez explains, "the international fruit market, and in particular the European fruit markets, used to also only care about sweetness as the standard of top-quality fruit. However, as consumer demand changed, fruit flavor became more complicated over time, more varied. In addition to sweetness, this single flavor, consumers also pay attention to complicated, mixed flavors: for example, sourness and limonin (the main origin of orange flavor)." This trend is already becoming visible in the Chinese fruit market. Jose Rodriguez recommended representatives during the meeting to get ahead of the playing field and pay attention to this new standard, in order to take advantage of changing consumer patterns.
Primor Orange is one of the 6 Spanish citrus exporters that participated in the meeting. Their representatives completely agree with Rodriguez's analysis of sweet and sour flavors in the citrus industry. Their oranges meet this new standard, which is one of the reasons why consumers in Spain, Norway, Canada, and China enjoy their oranges. In addition to the perfect combination of sweet and sour, Primor Orange also upholds the values of sustainability and ecological agriculture, and strictly controls the product quality of their oranges.
Spanish export representatives and Chinese traders in conversation
The lectures by specialists in the industry as well as the product display by Spanish exporters created an interest among all participants in Primor Orange, a representative brand for the Spanish fresh fruit industry. Of all the oranges enjoyed all over the world, 1 out of every 8 comes from Andalusia. This meeting helped to secure a future in which more, better, and fresher top-quality fruits can enter the Chinese market.
Source: Genesis g-commerce