The first Shanghai International Fruit Expo finished on the 17th of November. The theme of this expo was 'global fruit, Chinese market'. The goals of this expo were to gather premium fruit products from around the world, establish a specialized fruit expo for the Asia-Pacific world, and promote developments and innovations in the fruit industry. And although the numbers of visitors did not reach pre-Covid levels, the ratio of industry specialists was very high.
The expo was postponed twice due to the pandemic, but the third time was the charm. According to Mr. Huang, a member of the organizing committee, "despite strict Covid-19 prevention measures, we were able to receive fruit specialists from all over the world as we had planned. Non-specialists had to show a negative Covid-19 test less than 48 hours old. Nearly all of the more than 8,000 visitors work in the fruit industry. And foreign fruit company personnel still present in China also visited the expo."
The organizing committee envisioned the expo as an opportunity for domestic fruit traders to showcase their products and find strategic partners in the import and export industry. In addition, the expo also hosted the booths of the Chilean Fruit Export Association (ASOEX), the Southern Hemisphere Fresh Fruit Export Association (SHAFFE), the Australian New South Wales government, and the New Zealand Chamber of Commerce. And they brought the very best of their fruit products to display during the expo. According to Mr. Huang, "we have more than enough fruit expositions in China, but what we lack is a specialized fruit expo. The first edition of the Shanghai International Fruit Expo was a great success and neatly filled that gap in the market. Many participants finished the three-day expo and immediately expressed a desire to continue the expo next year. And many companies that were unable to participate this year have expressed their desire to join next year."
There are also regrets this year. Large numbers of overseas participants and visitors were unable to join in due to Covid-19 travel restrictions. That is why Fresh Plaza offers a visual tour of the Shanghai International Fruit Expo through a series of photos that you can access via the link at the bottom of this article. We hope to display the rich variety of outstanding fruit products at the Shanghai International Fruit Expo for the readers who were unable to personally attend the expo this year!