Korean fruit has big potential in Hong Kong premium market

Founded in 1996, Top Weal is dedicated to producing and importing safe and quality fresh fruits and vegetables. They are the sole wholesaler and distributor of their products. Kenneth Lee, Director of Top Weal explains, "We purchase from quality farms all over the world - Korea, Australia, Thailand, the US, and other countries - to suit the ever changing needs of consumers. Our products can be found in many outlets including local supermarkets, Japanese supermarkets, and wholesale markets in Hong Kong. Due to our extensive sales channels, our products are sold rapidly. This reduces storage time and contributes to keeping the freshness of our products."

What made you import Korean agri-products?

In the Hong Kong premium fruit market, there are limited sources of premium fruits. Our company has been importing Japanese fruits to the Hong Kong premium fruit market for many years and we are hoping to further expand the premium fruit market. Korean fruits are of good quality and we believe that they can also take a significant share of the premium fruit market in Hong Kong.

What kinds of Korean agri-products are you importing?

Top Weal has mainly been importing fresh Korean fruits: strawberries (USD$1.7 million in 2011), persimmons (USD$300,000), pears (USD$200,000), peaches (USD$100,000), muskmelons (USD$ 100,000), mandarins (USD$100,000), and some other fruits. In the future, we hope to start importing chestnuts, cherry tomatoes, potatoes, mushrooms, and sweet potatoes.

Who are the main consumers of the imported Korean agri-products?

Our main customers are local and Japanese supermarkets (75 percent) and the fruit wholesale market (25 percent) in Hong Kong. We also sell some Korean agri-products to Macau. Hong Kong people find that Korean products have a good taste and are a great value for the money. They are confident that Korean products have gone through thorough quality control measures regarding pesticides and fertilizer use. If the market in mainland China opens to Korean agri-products, we believe that this will open a very large window of opportunity for a wider acceptance of Korean agri-products.

Could you tell us about your plans for importing Korean agri-products?

We are discussing plans with supermarket buyers to hold more promotions for Korean fruits, for example, organizing Korean fruit festivals and a Korean food festival that will feature agri-products. For these promotional events, we will employ staff to help the retailers promote Korean agri-products to the public by conducting tasting sessions and teaching consumers how to cook Korean agri-products.

Contact details:
Top Weal Limited
Tel +852-2646-2886
Fax +852-2646-3247
[email protected]
www.topweal.com