FloraHolland on trade mission to China
This coming Sunday, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima start their state visit to China. Parallel to their visit, a large trade mission has been organised in which 200 companies are participating. Members of the cabinet accompanying the mission include Minister Koenders of Foreign Affairs and the state secretaries Van Rijn (Public Health) and Dijksma (Economic Affairs).
World Flower Exchange
Lucas Vos, Ina Tillema and Guido de Wit are representing FloraHolland during this mission. FloraHolland is exploring the market in China as part of its strategy for 2020 and the World Flower Exchange programme. Flowers and plants have traditionally played a large role in that country, one which can only grow with the improving purchasing power of Chinese consumers.
"The Chinese want to have quality, especially from abroad," stated Guido. "And the flowers from the Netherlands have a good reputation. In addition, the use of mobile phones is enormously widespread, especially among the young. China is going through a development boom in e-commerce platforms, such as Alibaba. That makes it a very interesting and promising market for us."
Programme of trade mission
As well as the official parts of the programme like the state banquet, the trade dinner and the business reception, the trade mission for FloraHolland will primarily involve meeting important partners in the horticultural sector.
"We established a number of contacts prior to this mission, through the WFE programme, in our initial market research. For example, we are going to sign a MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) with three other parties. Together with them we plan on setting up a number of trials to explore further the market for Dutch flowers in China."
Source: FloraHolland.com