More imported products are reaching the Chinese market every year. Chinese consumers are also more interested in trying new fruits and therefore the demand for these products is growing. One company that has witnessed the growth of this market is the Shanghai based company Leopard Fruit Trading.
With their head office in the Netherlands, they work together to import their Dutch Jaguar Conference pears to the Chinese market. Their Chinese sales manager Sylvia said about the pear market this year: “Due to a lower production of Chinese pears this season, the selling speed for conference pears has been better than in previous years. Also the selling price and demand is better than before. Our import volume increased by 50% compared with last season.”
“Besides the higher prices this year, we were able to sell more various sizes as well. Before, we only focused on the 3 largest sizes of the Conference pear, because these sizes would fit the Chinese market the best. This season we tried to ship a small volume of smaller sizes, and the demand was still very good. So we were very happy with this achievement. We also tried to pack them into different packaging to attract clients in different channels. It went well. And in the new season we will improve the specification again.” Explained Sylvia.
Longer season this year
While last season the last arrival of Conference pears was in end of April, now there are still conference pears on the market and quality is also still perfect. Randy Dijksman from Jaguar, the Fresh Company, explains how this improvement developed : “We have perfected the pre-cooling and shipping process. These improvements contributed a lot to the extension of our current season. Also our supply base is growing because the Chinese market is picking up. The Dutch growers need to apply for the China protocol in April when there are still no pears on the trees. So this means they need to think more than one year ahead. This year is the first year we've been able to profit from Leopard's good performance in the Chinese market and were able to attract more growers for the China Protocol.”
Exporting fruit to China is always under strict protocols. The requirements are very high and only products of the highest quality are allowed into the Chinese market. As Randy Dijksman explains: “Within our company, we focus on the quality of our products. Jaguar and Leopard work together to teach the Dutch packhouses how to pack the pears for the Chinese market. During the packing and loading of the pears, Jaguar quality managers are on site to manage everything. Furthermore, besides packaging we also focus on sharing our knowledge with Dutch growers. We set up several meetings a year with Dutch growers to share our experience in the Chinese market and in this way continuously improve ourselves and keep a high quality for all of our products.”
Leopard Fruit Trading is a subsidiary of Jaguar, the Fresh Company, and operates independently in Shanghai. They sell their products in every Chinese market, so they are not only focused on the first tier cities. Leopard Fruit Trading sells directly to retailers and their presence in the Chinese market is growing every year. Randy Dijkmans concludes: “As we can now see, the Chinese market is a growing market for Conference pears and the demand increases every year.”
Randy Dijksman
Jaguar, the Fresh Company
Tel. +31 (0)180 750 542
Fax. +31 (0)180 750 510
randy.dijksman@jaguartfc.nl
www.jaguarthefreshcompany.com
Sylvia
Leopard Fruit Trading (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.
Tel. +86 21 3479 9266
info@leopardfruit.cn