The company exported to various countries, among them, 504 tonnes went to Hong Kong, 108 tonnes to Singapore, 41 tonnes to Thailand, 31 tonnes to Malaysia, the balance of 27tonnes to Indonesia, Taiwan, Guam, Japan, Moscow, Netherlands.
"In the last season, we tried to ship a little strawberry to Netherlands and Moscow, 636 kg to Netherlands, 2,571 kg to Moscow, we have identified a market opportunity in Europe for Korea strawberries," explains Jeff Jun from the company."In previous seasons, GNTI's export volumes to Singapore and HongKong was quite constant, but this time sales decreased a lot on the Singapore market because of too much competition. "But sales increased in HongKong because we tried to ship it by sea at first. A sea shipment can save freight costs which brings us a competitive edge. Only the importer and exporter who deal with a huge volume of strawberry can arrange a sea shipment."
He goes on to say that although the prices were quite good compared with the previous season, were around US$1.00 per kg higher on average, growers were not happy because the production was not good, as there were too many smaller sizes which were not accepted at market, which resulted in almost the same income as the previous year. There were also a few quality problems, especially March and April which is usually the case, this was put down to the weather.
But Jeff says, "On the whole it was success. We are aiming to export 1,200 more tons of strawberry next season, by increasing direct business with supermarkets and more sea shipment to Hong Kong, which will be more competitive, and opening up new markets in European countries."
The company is currently exporting melons to Hong Kong and Singapore.
For more information:Jeff Jun
GNTI
Tel: 0082-55-249-80-70
Mob: 0082-10-56464181
[email protected]
www.gnti.co.kr