The Richard Hochfeld Group has been importing product into China since 2017, and continues to grow each year as they improve the expertise at source to create real value for their customers in China. This year they will send more than 600 containers and are planning significant increases next year. Martin O’Sullivan from the company said that Covid was challenging and the headache after covid continued the uncertainty, but the market is over that now and they continue to see demand across all of the product areas.
“We supply citrus and top fruit from South Africa, blueberries, grapes, stone fruit and top fruit from Chile, grapes and blueberries from Peru, Indian grapes, Egyptian citrus, British cherries and Philippine pineapples,” said Martin.
The weather around the globe has been very erratic in the last couple of years and Martin said while they can’t control the weather, they can be well informed, “We have people on the ground at source to support decision making when things change. I think in the face of weather impacts globally, we have been well prepared and as such mitigated a lot of potential issues. Our business is spread across multiple fruit products from either our own farms or partner growers, being able to supply multiple products allows our customers to fulfil more of their demand.”
The RH Group installed a packing line from British company Marco during the pandemic, which was a challenge as it had to be done via video calls, but according to Martin getting the team in China up to speed has been a real success considering the circumstances and they are in discussions to increase the packing capacity in China.
“We are aiming for product that meets the required targets for the China market, this is making sure you have the right size, right variety and quality. In terms of premium varieties, we continue to see strong demand and that hasn’t dropped off, if anything it continues to grow.
“We are always looking for opportunities to increase our product portfolio, but it needs to be right for the Chinese market. One of our customers owns a large number of ‘Fruit and Veg’ stores in Shanghai, their stores are fantastic and celebrate fruit with amazing retail theatre. This gives us a great opportunity to try out new products and pack types.”
For more information:
Martin O’Sullivan
Richard Hochfeld
Tel: +44 1732 885566
Email: [email protected]
www.richardhochfeldgroup.com
