China on their minds

A Sept. 7 presentation at the Bangkok AsiaFruit Congress by Patrick Vizzone, a Honk Kong based regional head of Asia food and agribusiness for Rabobank International Asia, presented the highlights of a recent survey of the Asian fresh produce trade. Whether prompted or not, he noted China came up often in the answers of industry leaders surveyed. Here is the audio link to his presentation.

In general, he said China has great potential in the long term as an import market for fruits and vegetables. China's internal market conditions will influence the course of their export growth. While China has a huge trade surplus in fruits and vegetables, it accounts for only about 2.5% of their total production.

The issue of whether China's growth in exports are sustainable was also raised, as water and contamination may limit the country's potential to expand, some Asian produce industry leaders believe.

As for more general topics, Vizzone said some of Asia's "winning" commodities for the future were identified in the survey as citrus, grapes and apples, The Rabobank survey also showed general optimism about growth prospects for the produce trade in Asia.

Contrary to perception, perhaps, traders don't believe a low cost strategy will be the way to succeed in Asia. Differentiation by food safety, brand and proprietary variety will be significant, traders believe.