SUNBIZ

Fijians Part Of Asian trade Show In Hong Kong

Three Fijians received a unique opportunity to take part in Asia’s leading fruit and vegetable trade event. They participated in the Asia Fruit Logistica Tradeshow in Hong Kong. The three,
16 Dec 2017 11:00
Fijians Part Of Asian trade Show In Hong Kong
Produce on display at the Asia Fruit Logistica trade show in Hong Kong in September.

Three Fijians received a unique opportunity to take part in Asia’s leading fruit and vegetable trade event.

They participated in the Asia Fruit Logistica Tradeshow in Hong Kong.

The three, Mohammed Ifraaz from the Biosecurity Authority of Fiji, Rizwan Khan from Pacific Harvest Ltd and Ashleen Prasad from Farmboy were supported by the “Improvement of Key Services to Agriculture” (IKSA) project, financed by the European Union (EU)and managed by the Pacific Community (SPC).

Mr Ifraaz, Mr Khan and Ms Prasad were in Hong Kong for five days, three of which were spent attending the trade show.

With the remaining two days spent visiting some of Hong Kong’s main retail supermarkets and fresh produce markets to track imported produce and assess the possibilities of entry of Fijian fresh fruit and vegetables into the Asian market.

The participants also explored research standards and regulatory requirements for fresh produce entering the Asian market, networked with potential buyers, importers, exporters, service providers, equipment manufacturers and packaging suppliers.

Some of the key challenges which the participants felt would need to be overcome in order to trade with the Asian arket include such issues as distance and travel time between Fiji and Asia.

Also volume and constant supply to importers, guaranteed payment to Fiji exporters and biosecurity and quarantine standards.

Mr Ifraaz said that he would highly recommend Fijian exporters to attend the 2018 trade show as “it provides a very good opportunity to showcase your products and even make deals at the same time by meeting interested buyers face to face.

He said the key constraints such as quarantine requirements and distance between Asia and Pacific markets must taken into account.

Sharing his experience after the tradeshow, Mr Khan said: “Overall, it was very informative – on a very large scale.

“Fiji caters for a very specific smaller market size.

“From the import side, we mostly get our fresh produce imports such as tomatoes, fruits, potatoes and onions from New Zealand and there are a few importers who are doing this.

“The Asia Fruit Logistica allowed us to experience better quality and new varieties of produce, which if imported, would increase the sale prices.

“A direct route is being explored and could be a possibility within the next few years given the urgency of China’s ‘belt road’ initiative.

“Exporting of fresh produce has opportunities – the opening of the China–Fiji pathway would lead to requests of fresh produce from Fiji to meet China’s growing appetite for cleaner and fresher produce as their mid-tiered income raises and wealthier Chinese accumulate more wealth.

“We received many requests for this and were also asked to inquire with the Fijian government about the status of the Fiji-China bilateral talks held some while back and the progress of the pathway for trade.”

Source: SPC

 

Feedback:  monica.aguilar@fijisun.com.fj

 

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