Import company KX Food has now been active in Antwerp for over a year. Manager Min Lie says that they have been very busy extending the company over the last year. "In the area of ginger we have now won ground on the European market. But we still have to work hard to realise a permanent factor in the market."
China situation
She gives her view on the ginger market over the next few months and an update on KX Food. "We produce our ginger on our own land in China in the Shandong province. This makes us dependent on the Chinese economy to a certain extent. At the moment the situation in China doesn't look positive. The cash flow from abroad is lacking a bit at the moment. This is partially due to the slightly less favourable financial situation in the country. Other than this, the ginger harvest takes place this month, the first reports are okay, but not spectacular." She indicates that the total harvest is larger than last year. "Based on personal estimates the volume is around 20% higher. This doesn't mean that the final yield will also be higher. As there has been enormous drought for a long period, we are losing some of the turnover that we won, but despite this the average amount will be around the same as last year."
Immensely high prices last year
Despite this KX Food has a positive feeling about the coming winter season. "It is clear to us that the 'explosion' in sales of ginger which occurred around this time last year, will not repeat itself. Prices rose to dizzying amounts then and we could hardly meet the demand. This isn't the case this year, but that's not that bad as far as we're concerned. We'd prefer if ginger became a good and much used product across the entire European market, than it being a short term 'trend item'. We prefer to choose a stable growth which will bear fruits in the long term. We are in it for the long run!"
As of November the first loads of Chinese garlic from their own harvest will also arrive. "We are hugely enthusiastic about this and we are looking forward to introducing the fruit and vegetable sector to our own KX Food products. Besides this we are also seeing a growth in the number of orders for our made to size laminated packaging materials. A sector that we have been working on for a while and where we are also achieving good results, for both the customer and KX Food itself. We offer foil by the roll and bags of all kinds, shapes and materials of high quality against very competitive prices, which has led a number of manufacturers to switch to us. We also plan to focus even more on the food industry for this and are looking forward to what the future has in store for us," concludes Min.