HANDE L EN AFZ E T APH Group For centuries, the Chinese have tried everything to keep foreign influences outside their country as much as possible. A wonder of the world like the Chinese Wall is a witness from the distant past: the communism of Mao Zedong and the building of enormous sky scrapers in great cities such as Shanghai are examples of more recent date. The Chinese have been exporting for centuries, but it was importing that was forbidden for a long time. However, today, the Chinese view of foreign influences is totally different. Professional Chinese companies are now looking abroad, where necessary, for knowledge and machinery to be able to expand the profitability of their companies as fast as possible. This is happening particularly in branches of industry where the Chinese are lagging behind. The cultivation of potatoes is one such example. What is abundantly available in China is people, lots of them, who are, generally, very disciplined, and that is a quality the potato sector can profit by. It is therefore not without reason that foreign companies, with the Dutch in the lead, are doing everything possible to benefit from this. The Xisen Potato Industry Company is an example from a company that does not shrink from looking abroad for knowledge and technology. In order to make large-scale potato growing possible, Xisen has engaged the services of the Dutch company APH Group from Joure. They have placed an order with them worth over 10 million euros. For that amount, the APH Group delivered a complete potato mechanisation package this spring. An order of this size for potato machinery has never been placed before in the world. In total, 130 containers were delivered with machinery for soil cultivation and planting and harvesting, and the storage of the potatoes. The company has, for example, supplied more than 20 6-row Baselier ridgers and cultivators, 12 4-row Koning planting machines for planting mini tubers, 49 2-row Dewulf bunker lifters, 8 drawn Hardi spraying machines, etcetera. A complete Bijlsma Hercules grading machine, 18 Bijlsma Hercules pre-grading installations for use in the field, Kuhn rotor cultivators and fertilizer distributors, 10 6-row Baselier haulm strippers, Bijlsma Hercules storage machinery, 27 6row Cramer planting machines and a number of Kongskilde stone removers. According to APH general manager Wytse Oosterbaan, it is not an easy task to deliver machinery in China. In addition to the language, there are also enormous cultural differences between the Netherlands and China. What is also awkward is the import levy, which is between 6 and 9 percent. But the transport costs are not too high, fortunately, sighs Oosterbaan. China is exporting more than it imports, and this also applies to Europe, the consequence of which is that many containers return to China empty. This means that exporters to China are able to fill up these containers cheaply to prevent them returning empty. This is usually at cost price. The transporter is happy, because he can at least recover the container handling costs. Another obstacle is the competitive Chinese produce. China very much wishes to stimulate its own economy. Considering the growth rate of the economy of at least 8 percent per annum, they seem rather successful in this. Agriculture can also profit from this, because growers receive at least 30 percent subsidy for the purchase of machinery in their own country, up to an amount of 5,000 euros. For the cultivation of potatoes, this amount has been doubled, unfortunately. The European spraying and lifting machines require massive investments, but they do bring cultivation to a higher level and that is what companies such as Xisen like to see. Yet another problem in China is the fact that growers who want to develop very quickly run into cash flow difficulties. Johan Kikstra, APC director for China, gives an example: He knows a grower who has planted 80 hectares of potatoes this year but, unfortunately, has now no more money to buy chemicals against Phytophthora or a spraying machine. The result was that his entire plot contracted Phytophthora. It is a great pity that he hadn’t thought of growing fewer potatoes, which would have left him with money to provide protection. Background of APH The APH Group is active in the marketing, sales and after-sales service for the following companies: Cramer, Koning, Baselier, Dewulf, Bijlsma Hercules, Omnivent and Manter. It is active in 30 countries, in particular Central and Eastern Europe, the CIS countries, Asia and Africa. In China, the APH group has set up a subsidiary company together with Omnivent Techniek BV in Zeewolde. From their office in Beijing, 8 service engineers and sales managers work in China led by Johan Kikstra. In order to carry out its service properly, the APH group has its own spare-part stocks and fully-equipped service cars in China. Potato World 2009 • number 3 19 Pagina 18
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