B&C Lifestyle has been established in the Netherlands for over seven years. While the company previously focused on the export of milk powder to China, last year they started importing Chinese ginger. And that went down quite successfully. Last year, they began importing in April and up through the end of the year the company imported a total of 200 containers of the product.
“One of our advantages is that we have our own production and packing station in China. This means that the whole chain, from growing to packing to export, is under our own management,” says sales manager Paul Yin. “Our customers are active mainly in the European wholesale markets or supply retail chains. We sell around 80% of our volume in the Netherlands but we also export to Scandinavia, Germany, France, Italy, Greece, and Eastern European countries.”
The ginger market has been enjoying increasing demand in recent years. “Many people are discovering the health benefits of ginger and use it in their tea, juice, beer, and food dishes. I am expecting that the demand will only continue to increase in the coming years,” Paul says. “On top of that, colder weather months like September and October are always favorable times for ginger consumption.”
Still, the ginger market is looking a bit complicated this year according to the sales manager. “Brazil started exporting in June this year, which is extremely early. They wanted to sell their ginger fast due to quality issues and the large volumes impacted the market. Because of the quality issues with the Brazilian ginger, the Chinese product has become more expensive than the Brazilian product, which is usually the other way around. Additionally, China has lower production this year compared with last year because of the floods, and this had already increased the prices.”
Two months ago, B&C received the SKAL-certificate, and now they can also sell organic ginger. “The first container of organic ginger will arrive in the Netherlands next week. Through the end of the year we are hoping to import fifteen to twenty containers. Still, the organic ginger remains a niche-product in comparison with the conventional kind, of which we have already imported 300 containers and expect to pass the 400-mark by the end of the year.”
Meanwhile, B&C Lifestyle also holds the necessary certificates to import ginger and they expect to complete the Chinese assortment in the coming weeks with the arrival of nashi pears and pomelo’s. “We are awaiting the reactions of the customers and if the demand is there we will expand these products next year. But ginger will remain the most important product,” Paul concludes.
For more information: 
Paul Yin
B&C Lifestyle B.V.
Tel: +31 (0)6 40730628
Email: yin@bclifestyle.nl