“Garlic is one of our main products. We can supply garlic all year around. The new garlic is available from June onwards. This year’s garlic prices have reached a peak level. Cold weather in January has damaged a share of the new sprouts. This is expected to lead to an overall production decrease of 10% to 20% for the coming season. Growers and traders have started to store garlic, because they expect prices to continue to go up until the new garlic arrives on the market,” explains Tom Bi of Jining Land Produce.
“We have 150 hectares of garlic near the city of Jining in Shandong province. We had to cover our land with films to protect our crops against the extreme cold this winter. Our garlic is exported to Europa and South America. Europe is a complicated market, due to strict export quota’s. Our garlic is very competitive on the South America market and we have been able to increase our year on year sales. We are competitive with Spain, Argentinian and Peruvian garlic on price, output volume and quality.”
Jining Land Produce was established in 2006. The company is engaged in the sourcing, processing, storage and import and export of fresh produce. Its main products are fresh garlic, ginger and chestnuts. Red Dragon and Red 8 are the company’s two flagship brands.
Growing international demand for Chinese chestnuts
“Chestnut cultivation is one of the flagships of our company. We have 70 hectares of chestnut forest near the city of Dandong in Liaoning province. Our team also cooperates with local growers. The growers are responsible for the planting, sourcing and processing of the crop. We are responsible for the marketing, distribution and sales. Our chestnuts are on the market in the months September to December. In 2010, we started to supply the European market. We now have customers in Germany, Britain, Italy and the Netherlands. Demand is rising and chestnut prices have remained stable. We sell in Europe through our Red Dragon brand.”
European ginger demand steady
“Fresh ginger is the second product we specialise in. Similar to our garlic, we have the capacity to supply ginger throughout the year. We have 100 hectares of ginger plantations near Weifang city in Anqiu, Shandong province. In addition, we manage a storage facility in the Netherlands. Here, we operate on 3,000 square meters. We supply the European and North American market. At the moment, demand in Europe is stronger than demand in the US. Overall, ginger prices have been low this season and international demand is relatively weak
“We work in cooperation with external packaging and logistics providers. We ship from the ports of Dalian and Qingdao, where we have our own cold storage facilities. We keep focusing on high-end markets. We aim to increase our international presence by entering new export markets.”
