Trade Challenges With China Pt 2
With today’s Fruit Grower Report, I’m Bob Larson. The NW Hort Expo is fast approaching, December 6-7-8 in Yakima, and one of this year’s speakers will be Mike Willett who’s spent the past 50 years in the Washington State Tree Fruit Industry.
Willett says a major challenge moving forward will be our up and down trading relationship with China …
WILLETT … “As we’ve changed in the U.S., to be able to provide large volumes of product from individual producers and individual marketing organizations, the Chinese are also looking at expanding how they do business on their side of the apple market which traditionally in China was very small growers growing Fuji apples.”
But, Willett says their apple industry is growing quickly …
WILLETT … “What we saw the last time I was there was that the Chinese government was investing significant amounts of money to create larger and larger operations in China, and a lot of those orchards looked like orchards you might see right here in Washington state.”
Willett says the Chinese have the necessary know how …
WILLETT … “We saw some places where things they had done probably, and they recognized it, just didn’t work out the way they thought they were. But, a lot of the people we met there, particularly the technical class of people who were working on these larger, newer orchards were really well-trained people and smart. Given the opportunity, they were going be able to figure things out, so it’s just a matter of time.”
Go to www.wstfa.org/annual-meeting/? To register for this year’s Tree Fruit Association Annual Meeting and NW Hort Expo.
