"Even though this is our first visit to Chile, we already had information about the country's excellent fruit quality and diversity, so we are here to establish businesses that allow us to import high quality Chilean fruit to China," said Hanqing Li, president of the Chinese importer Shenzhen Kingship Co, during a meeting they held with representatives of Chile's Association of Fruit Exporters AG.
The meeting was held yesterday at the premises of ASOEX, and was led by its President, Ronald Bown; who was accompanied by the Deputy Marketing Manager, Ignacio Caballero; the Chairman of the Kiwi Committee, Carlos Cruzat, and the Manager of the Chilean Palta Hass Committee, Juan Enrique Lazo.
Regarding the fruits they wished to import, the President of Shenzhen Kingship said: "Our first interest is in avocados, then cherries, table grapes, peaches or nectarines, and blueberries. We don't only want to import fruit, we also want to invest with the partners we find in Chile. This year we plan to start with one or two fruit categories and then we will move forward. We are especially interested in avocados."
Shenzhen Kingship currently imports avocados from Peru and Mexico, with whom they have agreements. "We hope to establish this same agreement with Chile, so that we can extend our availability of avocados throughout the year in China," said Hanqing Li.
"We know that the Chilean cherries are one of the country's best products, but we are currently focused on the avocado market which, despite being new in China, offers very good opportunities for our business," he added.
Regarding the visit, the representative said: "In Chile, we will mainly visit fruit orchards to ensure the quality of the products we want to import, and to introduce ourselves to the sector so that they know us." He also said that they would be in the country until Friday, April 28 and that they would hold meetings until Thursday April 27, so exporters wishing to meet with them should contact them to set up a meeting. (If you want to arrange a meeting, please contact Ignacio Caballero, Assistant Marketing Manager of ASOEX, e-mail: icaballero@asoex.cl).
Work with a Chinese government agency
At the end of 2016, Shenzhen Kingship was ranked within the top 900 companies, among 11 thousand companies listed on the NEEQ (National Equities Exchange and Quotations), the second most important in China; issuing its first shares in 2017.
According to Li, this year they started working closely with Chinese government authorities to implement a traceability system for imported fruit, as well as to ensure the quality of products; specifically, they have a strategic agreement with China Consumer Goods Quality and Safety Promotion Association, an organization dependent of AQSIQ, China's phytosanitary body.
Regarding the distribution of the fruit, the Li said that they mainly focused on the wholesale market, but that they were looking to grow within the retail market. In this sense, they have a long cooperative relationship with the wholesale market of Jiangnan in Guangzhou, which last year sold 26 billion yuan in fruits and vegetables. They have also established relations with Shenzhen Futian agricultural products wholesale market, which in 2016 had fruit and vegetable sales of 12 billion yuan.
In addition to its wholesale market consumers, the importer also has alliances with Rainbow Shopping Center, a Chinese-owned company with 64 stores throughout China; CR Vanguard, one of China's largest commercial centers, with 12 independent brands and more than 4,000 stores in the country, and with Wal-Mart, among others. Li said that they also had a close relationship with online sales platforms.
Source: SimFRUIT