Blueberry prices on the market in China are considered 'hot' right now due to lower and delayed volumes coming from the world leaders in the exports of this fruit, namely Peru. This is according to Yanitza Curonisy, business manager of China operations for the Peruvian grower and exporter Agrovision. She has been living in Shanghai, China, for the past seven years to grow sales along with her local Chinese team.
Yanitza Curonisy, business manager of China operations for the Peruvian grower and exporter Agrovision.
“Agrovision are the biggest exporter of blueberries to China from Peru. We produce, pack, and export our own fruit. We also have farms in other countries like Mexico, Morocco, and the USA (Oregon). We shipped 1,600 containers last season, this 2023 season, the volumes will be a little bit lower due to the weather conditions in Peru, but we will be pushing the sales, that is our job here in China,” states Curonisy.
China is Peru’s third biggest blueberry export market, representing 13% of total exports of about 37,000 tons in the last season of 2022/2023, who also, on average, pays more per kg than their other large markets of the U.S. and Europe.
What makes their approach in China different to conquer this vast market? Curonisy says the key for them to drive sales is being well-integrated with Chinese wholesale and retail markets on a daily basis. “Our difference is the quality of the fruit. Agrovision started with an evolution of the brand in China, and I am based here in China. We have a team in the market, a team with Chinese colleagues who provide not only daily feedback on the market situation and prices but also about the brand. They tell us what buyers see, how we can we include feedback from our receivers in the wholesale market, etc. From last season, we also have our own sales platform here. My Chinese colleague is in charge of the platform. It is a sales platform where we do physical sales. We use the platform that tells us who to give the fruit to. We will keep pushing sales in this way to see how we can evolve. We have receivers in wholesale and retail,” explains Curonisy.
China Blueberry Sales platform
Ralph Zhou, who manages the platform for Agrovision in China as commercial director, says they have their own registered trading company in the Asian country. “We have our own registered company since August 2022. We try to have our own trading office in China to lead all the sales activities in the country and to manage the supply chain as much as possible all by ourselves.”
Ralph Zhou, Commercial Director of Agrovision in China.
He says this places them in a unique position to take all the investments in new varieties on their Peruvian and other farms directly to this active market. The focus is on knowing about and seeing Chinese consumer needs. “We are closer to the demands of the China market. With the increased investment in fields and packing facilities, we are able to ship roughly 800 containers to China. Consumers in China prefer super firm, bigger, and sweet crunchy blueberry varieties,” concludes Zhou.
For more information:
Yanitza Curonisy
Agrovision
Tel.: +51 1 421 3468
Email: www.agrovisioncorp.com