How to thrive in China's competitive garlic market
“In Shandong province, fresh garlic will be moved into cold storage facilities from the 20th of August onward. After that, prices will gradually increase to compensate for the cost of storage. Garlic prices this year have been slightly higher than last year’s prices, but perhaps the market stabilises from the second half of August onward.”
“The organic garlic is growing in Europe. This garlic is most popular in the North American and European market. In China, sales of organic garlic are not noticeably large. New plantings will start in November, which can be harvested from May the next year onward. Because this year’s garlic prices have been strong, it could well be that next year’s total garlic output will be increased."
Indonesia and Foreign expansion
“A large part of the Indonesian garlic market is run by Chinese and on this market Mandarin is a very common language. The same is more or less true of other markets in South-east Asia, such as Malaysia. Finding new clients outside these markets has proven to be more challenging. The International Canton Fair, which is organised twice a year, has been important to us to liaise with new international clients. In addition, we are active on a number of online trade platforms, including Alibaba and China Suppliers. Language quickly becomes a problem, although our team speaks some English and we can communicate by email in English as well.”
“Parts of the European garlic market have become very competitive and growth has stabilised, which oppresses prices. The same has happened with Chinese ginger exports to Europe. However, there are a number of alternative countries in Europe that show larger growth, including Spain, Italy, Poland, Russia and the UK. Not all are used to employing platforms like Alibaba, for example, it seems that Italian buyers are less active with this than buyers from the UK."
"The international garlic market has become very competitive, and new companies have started to participate. In addition, most suppliers sell a homogenous product, that is without large differences between suppliers. Selling organic garlic is helping us to distinguish ourselves. Online sales should also help us. In the future, we want to expand the number of countries we are exporting to. The market is large enough to increase sales.”
For more information:
Ricky
Jinxiang Fanghua Trade Co.Ltd.
www.garlic.hk
Email: zhiliyin@126.com
Contact number: +86 1531 8197 175