Chinese greenhouse business is booming
From 10-12 April, the Dutch embassy trade mission visited Qingdao and Yantai in Shandong province, the 3rd economic power and leading vegetable grower and exporter in China. As part of the mission, a Sino-Dutch Modern Agriculture (Greenhouse) Technology Seminar was organized in Qingdao and Yantai respectively. Approximately 150 people from local growers, researchers, and government officials participated in these two events.
The trade mission was organized by the Netherlands embassy in Beijing and the Netherlands Business Support Office (NBSO) in Qingdao and Jinan. NBSO Qingdao and Jinan, as regional office of Dutch government trade organizations, maintains strong relations with local Chinese government and companies. Together with the participation of Mr. Andre Driessen, the chargé d'affaires of the embassy, an intensive program was carried out which attracted a lot of Chinese companies interested in using advanced Dutch technology, seeds and knowledge offered by companies such as Ridder HortiMaX, Rijk Zwaan, Wageningen UR, Metazet, Hoogendoorn, Van Iperen, and Dalsem.
According to Fulco Wijdooge, general manager of Ridder HortiMaX China, “it was one of the best trade missions I have participated in; well organized by the Chinese authorities of Qingdao and Yantai, NBSO and the Dutch embassy, featuring interesting meetings with Chinese growers and investors who had straightforward requests such as building a 50 ha greenhouse project as well as how to upgrade blueberry production facilities. Next week we will attend the Shouguang vegetable expo and meet some of them again for further discussions.”
Also the China office and testing area of renowned Dutch seed company Rijk Zwaan was visited. Mr. Sun Zhongkui, the general manager, gave a presentation which showed the development of their activities in the last 18 years. Rijk Zwaan has built up a very good brand reputation in the Chinese market and is one of the pearls of Dutch horticulture in China. Business is booming and they will relocate their activities to a new location in Qingdao and set up an even larger company and testing base. “There is tremendous activity now in the horticulture sector with large scale projects planned, whereas the growth in other sectors has slowed down in China. After Chinese New Year (end of January 2017) it is usually quiet for some months, but at this moment we already received many orders and are working on a number of new large scale projects such as the 7 ha Dongying greenhouse project.” Mr. Sun mentioned in the meeting.
Some facts on Shangdong:
- Shandong province is an important grower and exporter of vegetables and fruits. The vegetable sown area in Shandong (32.6 million mu, 15mu=1ha) makes up 1/10 of China’s total, with output equivalent to 1/7 of the nation’s total.
- Shandong is also the biggest owner of solar greenhouses in China. The total protected area totaled over 14.6 million mu (including 4.5 million mu solar greenhouses and the rest with different size sheds) in 2015, roughly 1/4 of nation’s figure.
- Shandong has been the largest exporter of vegetables both in output and value for 15 consecutive years in China, which accounts for about 1/3 of the country’s total. In 2015, over 3,000 processing companies exported vegetables and products worth 3.62 billion USD, to over 170 countries and regions across the globe.
- Shandong has rich vegetable varieties that have gained good reputation in both at home and abroad. The Chinese onion, ginger and garlic which have a persistent sown area of over 6 million mu, make up main stream in vegetable export.
The International Vegetable Sci-Tech Fair
This week (from 20 April), the 18th China (Shouguang) International Vegetable Sci-Tech Fair will be held in which a Dutch pavilion will be organized with over 20 horticultural companies from the Netherlands. NBSO Jinan will also be present to support Dutch companies in doing business.
NBSO Jinan and Qingdao can be reached through following contact persons in case you have questions or need assistance.
Roland Brouwer, Chief Representative, email: roland@nbsoqingdao.com
Liu Peng, Deputy Representative, email: nbsojinan@nbsojinan.com
Bron: www.hortidaily.com