Leopard Fruit Trading (Shanghai) is the Chinese branch company of Jaguar. The office in Shanghai is specialized in the import of citrus, and has grown into one of largest citrus importers to China since it's foundation in 2016
The company's main import destinations are Egypt, South Africa and Peru. Recently, Jaguar launched its South American office named Otorongo.
Sylvia Xu, at Leopard Fruit Trading, has seen a challenging summer season for overseas imports. She explains: "The first few weeks of the season were very promising for South African citrus imports, including mandarins, tango and oranges. This year there have been fewer mandarins from Peru, so there was opportunity for South African produce. Prices of Egyptian citrus were higher than in the previous season, which created additional opportunities for the South African oranges. However, the lockdown periods in the first half of the year hurt demand and sales."
Team Leopard Fruit Trading, with from left to right Coco, Sylvia, Miley and Roy.
Leopard Fruit Trading was able to navigate this challenging market situation due to its strong market position and by careful planning. "Our strength as a company is that we carefully look for the right channels and market positions for our products. We work closely with exporters, keeping them updated about the current market situation in China and any changes that will affect their sales. We also closely cooperate with our importers. One of the items we are working on is trying to grow overall sales volumes by convincing buyers that affordability these days is key to sales. As an industry we have to convince traders that we can reduce expectations regarding appearances of the fruit to make a larger crop available to the consumer at a lower price point. Affordability will be key in the near future."
Quality and branding are key components to a successful sale strategy. Sylvia continues: "It's with a careful mindset that we move forward, as buying power has weakened. We are adding strategic items to our offering, including South American cherries and blueberries through our newly established office in that region. There was also an uptick in prices and sales after the Mid-Autumn festival this year."
Planning for the Winter import season has been long under way. The first arrivals are about to reach China, explains Sylvia: "Sweeties and grapefruit from Israel will be available in week 43, with oranges starting in the beginning of November. Our export partners know that the Chinese domestic citrus crop is forecast to be smaller this year, which creates an opportunity for the import market.
Sometimes opportunity is found in unexpected corners. Fresh grapefruit imports have risen to meet strong demand from the Chinese food processing industries. The canned fruit is used in a hugely popular, grapefruit-flavoured, milk-tea drink.
Sylvia continues: "Finding the right channels and positions on the market is where we have our strength as a company."
For more information:
Sylvia
Leopard Fruit Trading (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.
Tel. +86 21 3479 9266
Mobile: +86 13963980859
[email protected]