With a month to go before ASIA FRUIT LOGISTICA opens its doors in Hong Kong, Asia’s premier fresh fruit and vegetable show is gearing up for its biggest and best edition yet.
Exhibitors from 46 different countries have signed up to showcase their products and services at the show, which returns to AsiaWorld-Expo Center in Hong Kong on 5-7 September.
Some 27 national pavilions will feature at ASIA FRUIT LOGISTICA, including Argentina, Australia, Britain & Ireland, Canada, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, Peru, South Africa, Spain, Taiwan, Turkey, Ukraine, the US and Vietnam.
Visitors can look forward to taking in a rich array of global offerings, with exhibitors spanning all continents, and every sector of the value chain.
A number of new countries and companies are joining the show this year. At the first-ever dedicated British and Irish pavilion at ASIA FRUIT LOGISTICA, The Orchard Fruit Company, featuring Orchard World and Norton Folgate, will promote its English apples and cherries. Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan will be represented for the first time, while debut exhibitor Hampton Algeria will introduce its Deglet Nour dates to the Asian market sourced from Algeria’s Biskra Province.
Leading logistics operators and shipping lines will also have a bigger presence at ASIA FRUIT LOGISTICA this year. Hong Kong-based international container carrier OOCL will mark its tenth anniversary of exhibiting at the show; Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) will share with visitors some of the new services it is launching in the coming months, including new eco-friendly vessels; while first-time exhibitor Singapore Airlines will be showcase its worldwide cargo network covering over 100 destinations.
Technology is transforming the fresh produce supply chain, and exciting exhibits in the packaging and grading sphere will feature at ASIA FRUIT LOGISTICA. Sorting and grading specialist Unitec Group will focus on one of Asia’s best-loved fruits, blueberries, with the unveiling of Blueberry Vision 2, which it describes as cutting-edge technology for quality selection. “It’s the first system that allows 100 per cent inspection of blueberries,” says a Unitec spokesperson.
Meanwhile, Israeli packaging specialist Stepac, which will have a bigger stand to mark the company’s increasing activity in Asian markets, will showcase a range of bulk and retail modified atmosphere (MA) and modified humidity (MH) packaging solutions. One such exhibit is its MA/MH resealable lidding film for various types of produce packed in PET or PP trays, which the company says are being successfully used for preserving the quality of cherries during seafreight from Chile to China.
What’s on the programme?
Well over 13,000 top-level buyers from than 70 different countries are expected to attend ASIA FRUIT LOGISTICA.
Visitors can get a valuable head-start by attending ASIAFRUIT CONGRESS. Asia’s premier fresh produce conference is the curtain raiser to the trade show, taking place on 4 September, the day before ASIA FRUIT LOGISTICA at the same venue.
Leading figures from the fresh produce business and the wider business world provide expert insights into the key market trends and opportunities across Asia. Attracting more than 400 high-level industry professionals from 40 different countries, ASIAFRUIT CONGRESS offers first-rate networking opportunities.
On the show-floor at ASIA FRUIT LOGISTICA on 5-7 September, visitors can take part in two walk-in hall forums – ASIAFRUIT BUSINESS FORUM at Hall Forum 1, and COOL LOGISTICS ASIA and SMART HORTICULTURE ASIA at Hall Forum 2.
ASIAFRUIT CONGRESS at 20
ASIAFRUIT CONGRESS celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. To mark the occasion, organiser Asiafruit Magazine kicks off the conference with a look back at how the business in Asia has changed over the past two decades, and at how it is changing now.
Asiafruit Magazine will be joined in the opening session – ASIAFRUIT CONGRESS: two decades of change – by an expert panel including Noel Shield, chief executive of powerhouse distributor Joy Wing Mau Asia Holdings; Patrick Vizzone, international head of food, beverage and agribusiness at ANZ Bank in Hong Kong; and Bill Young, senior export account manager at leading US grower-packer-shipper Stemilt.
Asia’s food retail market is moving fast, and the second session – Supplying Asia’s food retail market of the future – will explore how these trends are set to the reshape the supply chain moving forward. Shirley Zhu, who leads grocery analyst IGD’s research team in Asia, will map out the changing retail landscape. Andy Zhang, GM of the fruit import business for Win-Chain, the supply chain management arm for Alibaba-backed online fresh food e-tailer Yiguo, will discuss its mission to transform the fresh produce business. Bringing a suppliers’ perspective to the panel discussion will be Hernan Garces of Forever Fresh Asia (a joint venture between Chilean cherry exporter San Francisco Lo Garces and Peruvian table grape exporter Verfrut) and Linda Mills, chief market performance officer for Zespri.
The final session – ASIAFRUIT CONGRESS at 20: Asia gets ready for its future – homes in on some of the emerging products and markets to watch in Asia through quick-fire Q&As, before closing out with an expert perspective on the keys to future business success from Mette Knudsen, chief executive of consultancy Knudsen&Co.
A series of afternoon workshops at ASIAFRUIT CONGRESS will go into more detail on specific subjects. The first concurrent pair of workshops focuses on the dynamic Korean market, and on more effective marketing to Asia’s vast traditional food retail trade. The second pair turns the spotlight on Asia’s next boom in citrus, and on how to capitalise on Asia’s convenience craze.
