Jen's pick: Seeing what our competitors do

Jen Scoular in the New Zealand pavilion at the Asia Fruit Logistica trade show.

I recently returned from a very full-on couple of weeks at Asia Fruit Logistica - a trade show and congress held in Hong Kong, and a three day Market Insights Tour to Shanghai.

Asia Fruit is the Asia equivalent of the huge Fruit Logistica, held annually in Berlin, Germany.

Asia Fruit was bigger this year, but is only one very large hall - Fruit Logistica I believe now needs 16-18 halls to house all the industries and commercial players in fresh produce globally.

To improve the visibility of New Zealand producers, NZTE, Plant & Food Research and HortNZ supported a New Zealand pavilion at Asia Fruit, following the success at last year's show.

The New Zealand pavilion was impressive. It's a solid red 'marae house' with 12 New Zealand companies having individual stands around the edge, and two meeting rooms in the middle.

Six New Zealand avocado exporters exhibited at this - JP Exports, Te Mata and Valic joined us on the New Zealand pavilion, while Avanza, Seeka and Freshmax had their own stands outside of the New Zealand pavilion.

Zespri had a huge and impressive stand next to the pavilion.

New Zealand is seeking phytosanitary access to China for avocados, so as an industry wanted to be visible at Asia Fruit, and demonstrate our commitment to developing the Chinese market for avocados.

We had lots of visitors to our stand from a range of countries including South Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Singapore, Dubai, Taiwan, India and of course China. Conversations were not just about import and export but included those talking about promotions, shipping, technology and logistics.

Trade visitors wanted to know where avocados grew, they were very interested in our growing and export systems, and loved the photos we had on our stand of individual growers, and the stories we have created about some of our growers.

Most were aware of the fact that avocados are very healthy but didn't know any specifics about the health attributes.

They knew about New Zealand from other products, particularly Zespri kiwifruit and NZ cherries, and they certainly recognised New Zealand's clean green reputation.

NZTE supported an excellent networking function with New Zealand wines and food, allowing us to invite our contacts and customers, and also promoting good networking across the wider New Zealand team.

Trade Shows take a lot of preparation and a lot of time out of the office, but with shows like Asia Fruit, they provide an excellent venue to see everyone you need to in one place, and offer a very valuable networking opportunity.

We could see what our competitors are up to, what other industries are doing and share market intelligence about fresh produce, technology and innovation.

It was a very worthwhile few days.