Banana marketer Dole China, Thai importer-distributor City Fresh Fruit, multi-format food retailer Central Retail Vietnam, and seed company Rijk Zwaan have won the prestigious Asia Fruit Awards 2025. The winners were announced during a presentation ceremony at the event today.
The annual pan-Asian awards are presented by Asia Fruit Logistics and Asiafruit Magazine, to celebrate excellence and recognise outstanding achievement in Asia's fresh produce business, with the winners selected by the two organisations.
The awards are given in four categories, 'Marketing Campaign of the Year', 'Importer of the Year', 'Produce Retailer of the Year', and the 'Impact Award', which recognises significant contribution to developing Asia's fresh produce business.
Marketing campaign of the year: Dole China
Dole China scooped the Marketing Campaign of the Year Award for its milestone Dole Banana 125th Anniversary campaign.
Partnering with Minions, McDonald's and major sporting events, the large-scale campaign promoted its core message 'Choose Dole for Great Bananas'. In June 2024, Dole partnered with Universal's Despicable Me 4 movie, and launched the co-branded Dole Sweetio Banana, featuring limited-edition Minions packaging. In July, Dole China joined forces with McDonald's and launched Dole Sweetio Banana McFlurry on McDonald's' menu in China across 8,000-plus outlets with integrated campaigns.
Leo Li, national sales director of Dole China, accepted the award. "Since 1851, Dole has built trust across the world as a fruit innovator," said Li. "This award honours the tireless growers on our own farms worldwide, and our team's excellence in strategic partnerships, channel integration, and consumer-centric innovation."
© Asia Fruit Logistic
Importer of the Year: City Fresh Fruit
Thai fruit importer-distributor City Fresh Fruit won the Importer of the Year Award.
The family-owned company, founded in 1989, was singled out for its professionalism and progressive approach to developing the fruit import business.
City Fresh has embraced digital transformation through active promotion and direct-to-consumer sales via online and social media channels. City Fresh has also introduced its City Fresh Fruit Community experiential concept stores – unique retail spaces that combine a fruit shop, café and restaurant to create an immersive 'fruit experience'. The stores serve as a platform to host tasting events, boost awareness of new and seasonal fruits, and create excitement about products online.
The importer was also recognised for its strong relationships with global suppliers, which have made it a key distribution partner for leading brands such as Driscoll's, Zespri, Pink Lady, Dole and OZblu.
Wongsakorn Chatamornwong, deputy CEO of City Fresh Fruit, accepted the award. "Over the past five years, we've invested a lot of effort into evolving the business," said Chatamornwong. "This recognition is a great honour, and it will motivate us to continue on that path."
© Asia Fruit Logistica
Produce retailer of the year: Central Retail Vietnam
The Produce Retailer of the Year Award went to Central Retail Vietnam, the leading foreign-owned multi-format retailer in Vietnam.
Central Retail Vietnam operates 89 food retail stores across the country, including hypermarkets (GO! and Big C), urban supermarkets (Tops Market) and semi-rural and rural supermarkets and hypermarkets under the mini go! and Lan Chi Mart banners
Central Retail was recognised for its strength and scale in fresh produce sourcing and procurement.
The retailer has also forged strong sourcing programmes for domestically grown fruits, working closely with local farmer organisations, cooperatives and government associations to promote local produce. Its annual tropical fruit festival – featuring lychees, durians, mangosteens and mangoes among other products – has become a flagship event. The festival links to the cultural tradition of presenting baskets of ripe fruit during the Mid-Lunar New Year.
Pham Dieu Linh, Central Retail Vietnam's fresh international sourcing commercial manager, collected the award. "At Central Retail Vietnam, fresh produce is at the heart of how we serve our customers every day," said Nguyen Thi Bich Van, Central Retail Vietnam's head of PR and communications. "Receiving the Asia Fruit Award for Produce Retailer of the Year is a proud milestone that reflects our dedication to making premium, safe, and diverse fresh produce accessible to millions of shoppers across the country, and to connecting our market with top-quality supply from around the world."
© Asia Fruit Logistica
Impact Award: Rijk Zwaan
Seed breeder Rijk Zwaan was presented with the Impact Award for its investments in Asia to develop tailored products and solutions that benefit the fresh produce supply chain and wider agricultural communities.
Rijk Zwaan has demonstrated a commitment to developing genetics suited to local climatic conditions in the markets that require them most, such as Vietnam, China and India, Hey noted.
Last September, it opened an R&D station in Dalat, Vietnam, to accelerate the development of varieties suited to growers in South-East Asia and the region's fresh produce market. The facility also aims to move horticulture practices towards protected cultivation, and from low-tech to high-tech production, to benefit local growers and supply chain partners.
In China, Rijk Zwaan has succeeded in developing red tomatoes as a year-round offering where the market traditionally focused on pink tomatoes.
More recently, Rijk Zwaan has moved into the Japan and Korea markets, leading the way among international seed breeders. It has constructed a high-tech greenhouse facility in Japan, focused on tomatoes, lettuce, cucumber and peppers, with a dedicated section for R&D and demonstrations.
Jan Doldersum, Rijk Zwaan's manager chain and retail, accepted the award. "We are very proud and honoured to receive the Asia Fruit Impact Award," he said. "Creating impact is in the end what matters for the long term. Impact for local farmers to improve their crop and cultivation by providing better genetics and sharing know-how. Impact for communities and society for a better living standard. Impactful consumer behavioural change for more healthy-living and realising impact for the planet by providing sustainable solutions."
© Asia Fruit Logistica
