Chinese honey pomelo exporter Bona is positioning itself to become a major fruit importer in China in a bid to broaden its business and meet growing demand for overseas produce.
Sales representative Shannon Zhang said the company last year trialled naval orange imports from South Africa in small volumes, and is looking into bringing in oranges from Egypt in the near future.
Bona is also planning to import cherries from the US and Chile to capitalise on growing demand for the fruit in China, and is looking into developing an exotic fruits line out of South East Asia - also an expanding sector in China. 'We want to expand,' said Zhang.
The firm, which exported 1,000 containers of fresh pomelo to Europe, Russia and Canada over the 2016/17 season (August to February), is also assessing Chinese garlic export potential.
'We are currently learning how best to do that, since we are based in southern China, and garlic is mainly grown in the north,' said Zhang.
But Bona is not abandoning its core product, pomelos. The company is keen to find new clients in France, Italy, Greece and the Middle East.
'We want to expand our pomelo sales into other markets,' said Zhang. 'Germany and the Netherlands are our biggest European markets. And at present we have no customers in France or Italy.'
Demand for honey pomelo is on the rise in Europe, she added, as more people become familiar with the fruit's sweet, juicy taste and high vitamin content.
Pink honey pomelo, previously more expensive than the traditional variety, is also becoming more popular in Europe.
'The pomelo business in Europe started getting better in the last six years,' said Zhang. 'Pomelo tastes quite different from grapefruit, and has more vitamins. The fruit's health benefits are something we promote on the domestic market in China, and that we encourage our import partners to push in Europe.'
Chinese pomelo volumes are expected to be higher in 2017/18 compared to the prior season, which finished this month (February). Exports are forecast to increase accordingly.
