rtered in Shanghai, China, has opened its 7th Fresh Fruit Import Distribution facility in Qingdao, Shandong Province.Jim Provost of USA based I Love Produce, LLC, and John Wang, CEO of Lantao, were on-hand to help kick-off the celebration. Shandong is the #1 top farm export province in China, and Provost and Wang are partners in exporting organic vegetables, ginger and garlic from Shandong to North America. “Qingdao is the port and gateway for all of the produce we ship from China to North America”, said Provost. “So, it is only fitting that we have now opened a Qingdao distribution facility that will allow us to bring premium fruit from the United Stated and the world to the people of Shandong.”
Lantao’s new office in Qingdao is located in the Qingdao International Agricultural Products Market. The Qingdao International Agricultural Products Market has a total planned area of 1,700 acres, and a total investment of 5.6 billion Yuan (about $9 million U.S.). Phase I officially began operations on December 7, 2013, and by 2014 the annual volume of fresh produce has reached 500 million tons.
“Qingdao is an attractive market for us for a number of reasons” said John Wang, CEO of Lantao. “With nearly 100 million population, Shandong is one of China’s most populated provinces as well as one of the most affluent. In addition, as a port city, we can import fruit from North American, South America, South Africa and Australia directly to Qingdao, reducing our transit time and cost as compared to the normal channel through South China and trucking it north.”
Mr. Liu Yin Xiang President of the Qingdao International Agricultural Products Market is excited to have Lantao as an anchor in the new market. “Having an established importer like Lantao will draw business to the market not only from Qingdao but from other areas in Shandong including the capital city, Jinan.”
Lantao is an importer of premium fruit from around the world into China and now has 7 operations for marketing fruit including in the cities of Guangzhou, Shanghai, Beijing, Shenyang, Zhengzhou, Harbin and now Qingdao.
