In the Chinese city of Guangzhou, the company Guangzhou Bobby Agriculture Tec. Co. Ltd. grows Rijk Zwaan’s tomato specialities on 35 hectares. These tomato types are becoming increasingly popular among Chinese consumers. Mr Tommy Qu, chairman of the board at Bobby Agriculture, values the close collaboration with seed company Rijk Zwaan.
“We grow various tomato types, including mini loose, mini truss, large loose and truss. We have chosen Rijk Zwaan varieties such as Operino RZ, Florantino RZ, Genery RZ, Vacetto RZ, Senserno RZ and Tatami RZ. Their advantages include good flavour, a high brix, a good balance of sweetness and sourness, and an attractive appearance and shape. The demand for these kinds of specialities has been rising rapidly in China.”
Offline and online
“Bobby’s tomato products are also much appreciated by our online and offline business partners. We have differentiated our market strategy for these two markets. For the offline business we are working with major traditional high-end retailers, such as Carrefour, Walmart, Lotus and Ole’, covering 200 stores in southern and south-eastern China. For the online business we have just started collaborating with JD.com, a top online business company, in April this year. The online business will cover Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou.”
“We highly value our close collaboration with the Rijk Zwaan team. What sets them apart is their chain knowledge, network and services. The whole team continuously help and support us. We benefit from their knowledge of category management, which helps us to position our products and improve operational efficiency. But even more important is the broad business network that Rijk Zwaan have connected us with; this rapidly boosted our sales revenues in the short term and we expect to see a further steady rise in the long run. In the future, we are keen to collaborate even more closely with Rijk Zwaan, such as by doing earlier trials of the new varieties.”
Rijk Zwaan attends Asia Fruit Logistica from 5-7 September 2018 in Hong Kong, presenting a broad range of snack tomatoes, the new MyCubies One Bite snack cucumber, Sweet Palermo and much more. Visit us in Hall 5, 5-T12.