Tucuman's lemons conquer Asia

Six local lemon exporting companies and the All Lemon group, with financial and technical support from the Institute for Productive Development of Tucuman (IDEP), participated in the Asia Fruit Logistica fair that was held in Hong Kong between September 7 to the 9.

Asia Fruit Logistica focuses exclusively on the fresh produce sector and its value related chain for the whole Asian region. The exhibit included, suppliers of fresh unprocessed fruit and vegetables, nuts, herbs and spices, organic products, flowers and potted plants, and fresh convenience products (ready to eat), as well as suppliers of products and services for storage, transportation, and packaging.

Relaunch to the Asian market

Vicente Trapani participated in the exhibition, marketing fresh lemons and industrial derivatives. "We feel great because we were able to relaunch the company in the Asian market at the fair. We achieved business deals for Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia, and we strengthened our operations and customer relations with clients in the Russian and Australian markets," he said.

The Veracruz company said that they had achieved twice as many orders to Asia in this fair than at the 2015 Asia Fruit Logistica. Meanwhile, the Pablo Padilla company stated that their participation in Fruit Logistica had allowed them to strengthen ties with their Asian customers, particularly with members of the ASSEAN region (a regional organisation of states from Southeast Asia).

San Miguel citrus held more than 45 meetings during the fair and Representatives of the company, which is already well positioned in the Asian market, said that customers were looking for fresh, firm, deep yellow, quality lemons.

A visit to Hong Kong's fruit market

During the exhibition, participants at the fair took a tour to the Yua Ma Tei fruit market, which is located on the Kowloon Peninsula. Founded in 1913, this market consists of 180 stalls that sell fruits from around the world. It is the largest wholesale fruit market in Hong Kong.

"Knowing the market and participating in events that allowed access to a specialist audience gives us a competitive advantage over our competitors and enables our companies to achieve better results," said Lucia Gundlach, the coordinator of the Export Promotion area at the IDEP and the person in charge of the trade mission in Asia.

IDEP also organised visits to supermarkets and meetings with local buyers so that the Argentinian companies had an insight into the Asian market, which would facilitate the export process. "For the Institute, it is a priority to guide the companies throughout the process, culminating in the realisation of sales abroad, which we did," Gundlach said.

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