Mission Produce and its import partner in China, Lantao, are pursuing counterfeiters of Mission’s packaging in the Chinese market.
The Californian avocado marketer released a statement saying they had intercepted fake boxes of Mission-branded fruit on the market in China, which appeared to be repacked fruit from another source that was placed in flats resembling Mission’s trademarked packaging and logo design.
“We’ve contacted the authorities, and are pursuing all legal remedies to track down and prosecute the perpetrators,” said Mission CEO, Steve Barnard.
Recently Mission, Lantao and Pagoda inked a deal to provide ripened fruit in the Chinese market. According to Barnard he expects this programme to help spur explosive growth in the market. “Once Chinese consumers start buying pre-ripened avocados, we expect acceptance in China to reach levels of further-developed markets like North America, Europe and Japan,” he said.
John Wang, Lantao’s CEO, added: “One challenge facing the partnership is counterfeiters attempting to copy the established Mission brand to piggy-back on the marketing and ripening work that only Mission, Lantao and Pagoda have done in China. We are working together to protect the brand and not allow inferior fruit to confuse consumers and jeopardise what we have built together.”
