Luis Schmidt, Chile’s Ambassador to China, will speak at Asiafruit Market Insight – the new conference event that will explore regional opportunities in northeast China – when it meets at the Intercontinental Hotel in Qingdao on 29-31 May.
Since taking office in 2010, Schmidt, the former president of Chilean fruit grower association Fedefruta, has played a key role in helping to establish protocols for Chilean horticultural products to enter China, including blueberries and dried plums.
Schmidt will take part in a session focused on building the berry category in China, speaking on the role Chile can play in helping to upgrade domestic production as well as its position as a supplier of imported berries.
He will be joined in the session by Robert Verloop, executive vice-president of marketing at major global berry marketer Naturipe Farms, and Nick Zhang from Legend Holdings, which recently acquired Wallen Agri, China’s leading blueberry grower-marketer based near Qingdao.
Meanwhile, Zespri’s new president of global sales and marketing Daniel Mathieson will join the conference to talk about how the leading New Zealand kiwifruit marketer merchandises to consumers in China’s tier-two cities.
Zespri has been extending its distribution and marketing network into China’s rapidly emerging tier-two cities, including Qingdao. Mathieson, who is overseeing the Chinese market in his new role, has helped to establish Zespri’s plans for this fast-growing market in 2013, and he will speak with a global depth of knowledge.
As one of China’s leading ports, Qingdao has been a major gateway for the vast export trade of fresh produce from Shandong Province in the past decade or so. The final session of Asiafruit Market Insight – entitled ‘Changing trade winds’ – will explore the recent trends and future outlook for this export trade, as well as looking at the opportunities to develop direct imports into northeast China.
On hand to address these topics will be Liu Zijie, the founder and chairman of Goodfarmer Fruits and Vegetables, which has diversified from being a leading exporter of Chinese produce such as garlic and apples to become a major importer and domestic market supplier as well. He will be joined by Mikkel Skaalum of Maersk Line, who heads up the shipping line’s reefer team in northern China.
