Koppert Biological Systems is focusing more and more on the Asian markets. "Asia is the fastest growing market in relation to population and the connected demand for food", said Yassin Lahiani, export manager for the MENA and Pacific region at Koppert Biological Systems. "The rising demand for food also results in a rising demand for more safely and effectively grown produce. That’s why we have decided to focus on this market by participating in trade shows like Horti Asia. For us, these are the first places where we get to know the market, demand, people and what else is happening. Even though the trade show is organized in Thailand, there were a lot of visitors from surrounding countries like Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia. Those are the countries that we are focusing on, so it was quite positive in this respect."
Since it is the second year that the Horti Asia trade show is being organized, the show has still got a way to go, just like the market. "It is not a very busy trade
show yet", Lahiani said. "But you can't expect a trade show to be booming in its second year, this is something that has got to grow. "But we definitely found out that there is a big potential for this event in this market, added Bram Koppert, the companies area manager for the Asian Pacific. "On the first day we welcomed a lot of representatives from research stations and we got a good feeling of the market. There is such a big increase of income together with urbanization. These two things are increasing so fast, that the production of food can't keep up with it. This creates numerous changes in many kinds of industries, both horticulture and agriculture."Koppert Biological Systems has previously been very active in horticulture in general. "In Asia there is a lot of open field horti and agriculture", said Lahiani. "That’s why, since 2005, our research and development also is focusing on open field crops and agriculture. We have a new range of microbial products which are also suitable for this region. These products work excellent against several kind of key soil-borne and plant diseases. We also made them easier to apply in the field and extended shelf life of the product.”
According to Bram Koppert, growers in Asia are getting more and more environmentally conscious. "Like in the rest of the world, there has been a lot of irresponsible usage of chemicals for decades. We noticed that trade show visitors are aware of this, they are ready to adapt biological solutions to start growing more responsibly and sustainably. Not only from an environmental point of view, but also technical. Some chemicals do not even work anymore. In some cases, biological crop protection and natural fertilizers are the last available tools for protecting and improving there crops.”
Supported by years of experience in China, Japan, South Korea and other subtropical areas of the world, Koppert enters the new emerging markets in the Pacific region with confidence. "As one of the market leaders in biological crop protection, we have always felt an urge to enter new areas and sharing our knowledge in the market," concluded Lahiani.
For more information:Koppert Biological Systems
www.koppert.com
Yassin Lahiani (e-mail)
[email protected]