Chinese processing approaching 88 million tons TRADE AND MARKET I NG back of the establishment’, he explains the food safely system in restaurants. Looking at mechanisation, Zhang sees many copies of European mechanisation appearing on the market. ‘Chinese growers often consider the price of a product more important than its quality, which means they often go for more inferior products’, he explains. Wang Jiu Eng is a good client of APH. At his 3,300 hectare farm, he grows 1,600 hectares of potatoes, half of which is seed and the other half consumption potatoes for both the fresh market and the processing industry. Wang has a great deal of experience in the potato market. In the early 90s, he had an executive position in establishing Chinese potato cultivation for PepsiCo. He also worked for McCain and LambWeston. He’s now an independent potato grower and he’s convinced that expert knowledge is essential to bring Chinese potato cultivation to a higher level. His now 26-year old son studied Agricultural Business Management in the UK to gain more knowledge. Better spreading with storage The Wang business uses a closed cultivation system. He produces his mini tubers himself in a few rooms in his office. You won’t find a closed system here, there’s a more or less free entry. ‘To sell consumption potatoes, investing in consumer marketing is important’, Wang Jiu Eng explains in his laboratory. He produces 20 million mini tubers annually, which cost less than 5 euro cents per mini tuber. His biggest varieties are Favorita, Shepody and Atlantic. In his storage unit of 15,000 tons, he stores both his seed and the potatoes for the fresh market. The French-fry potatoes go to his buyers straight after harvesting, because they have their own storerooms with which they can provide a certain availability of potatoes. Because of his storage, he can spread the sale of table potatoes better over the year and avoid the often low, post-harvest prices. He sells his consumption potatoes for about 21 cents, but last year the market was not too good and he had to sell for 15 euro cents as well. Compared to his cost price of over 14 cents that’s too low. Looking into the future, Wang expects a fast expansion in potato cultivation. ‘In order to sell these potatoes to the consumer, investing in consumer marketing is very important. The population still regards the potato as ‘poor people’s food’, and the nutriPotato World 2016 • number 2 25 Pagina 24

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