Stemilt Growers of Wenatchee, US, and Lantao of Shanghai, China have teamed up to be the first marketers of Starkrimson pears from Washington State in China under the new protocol between the US and China announced earlier this year.
Mike Taylor, vice-president of sales and marketing for Stemilt, said Starkrimson, because of it striking red colour and sweet flavour, is a good multi-purpose pear well suited for the Chinese market.
“Our experience is the Chinese consumer appreciates a sweet and juicy piece of fruit” said Taylor. “We expect there will be an education period to explain the difference between a typical Asian pear and our Western style pears.
'We feel very confident that Lantao, our partners in China, will do a great job in exposing both Starkrimsons and Anjous in the market, and increase their sales and acceptance with the Chinese consumers.”
Lantao has marketing and distribution facilities in six different markets in China, including Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou and also in the internal secondary cities of Shenyang, Zhengzhou and Harbin.
“Although our initial introduction of the Starkimson pear will be in the primary markets, there has been plenty of growth in our secondary market cities for premium fruit from the United States” said John Wang, president of Lantao. “Our so-called second-tier markets have populations of over 10m people, with growing economies and a burgeoning middle-class.”
