?Interpoma International?, lots of opportunities for apple growing in China

China is the world?s largest apple producer and offers excellent business opportunities to those operating in this sector. This is the message that emerged during the "Interpoma International" conference held recently in Bolzano as a preview of Interpoma 2016, the international apple show taking place from 24 to 26 November at Fiera Bolzano. "A few months before the start of Interpoma 2016 ? says Thomas Mur, General Manager of Fiera Bolzano - we wanted to know what might be the new attractive markets for our exhibitors. During the last edition, two years ago, we had visitors from 71 different countries, which reflects the increasingly international importance of the event. Before choosing the subject of China - he continued - we made several visits to the production areas of this country. Today some systems meet high quality standards, whereas most are still in conditions comparable to those that we had in the fifties. We also met with political representatives and research centres. On all these occasions we perceived that China is very interested in apples and that the economy of this sector is growing swiftly.? Then Yongbing Yuan, Professor of Fruit and Vegetable Science at the College of Horticulture and Vice President of Qingdao Agricultural University, spoke about the apple production in China and its present and future perspectives. ?Currently in China we have huge areas cultivated with apples, - he said - about 2.3 million hectares, with a production of around 38 million tons. The plants are generally very large, but the planting systems are usually rather small. The producers' cooperatives are still not very widespread, despite the government is trying to promote them. There are only a few varieties, and Fuji occupies nearly 73% of the total production. The market, however, has 1.4 billion consumers.? The vice president of Qingdao Agricultural University also pointed out how apple growing in China has been modernised especially during the last ten years, despite there is still a lot to do. Regarding farm machinery, for example, the Asian country is a major importer. ?According to some studies - said Yongbing Yuan - 70% of the machines used in agriculture are imported. But also for the plants there are no major obstacles, and in recent years many trees have been acquired from Europe, mostly from the Netherlands. In fact, our apple orchards have a large number of old trees, while we know that the planting systems created according to the latest criteria allow the use of machines. And the government also provides incentives for the purchase of new machinery.? And what about the future? "Today, - said Yongbing Yuan - most of the apples are concentrated in the province of Shandong, which alone produces 9.3 million tons. By 2020 we want to achieve a production covering more than 400,000 hectares, with 40 tons per hectare, while cutting the cost of labour and the use of water resources by 15%, and that of fertilizers by 30%. South Tyrol is still our example to follow.? If China looks to the Italian example, in recent years Fiera Bolzano has taken steps to facilitate business opportunities. Talking about China, a potential market for Interpoma exhibitors, Interpoma consultant Kurt Werth recounted his experience: ?We often talk about China but don?t always realise its enormous size. A quarter of humanity lives in China. This market has great potential for Interpoma exhibitors: with such a size and rapid growth rate there have to be many business opportunities. For growing plants one starts by looking at what has been done in the rest of the world, with grafts or intermediate rootstocks. The equipment is often imported from Italy or Europe. Mobile platforms, such as sprayers or nebulisers, also come from South Tyrol. There is even great fervour in research: in two weeks we managed to visit eleven varietal development stations.? Gottfried Rottensteiner, manager of Skipp Sas, stressed the importance of business travel in these regions and lawyer Veit Gamper confirmed this, reminding those starting new businesses with Chinese partners to address the issue of legal protection and forms. The "Interpoma International" meeting was only the first of others that Fiera Bolzano will hold on the central role that China plays in the apple-growing sector. In this context Fiera Bolzano intends supplying companies with the tools to learn more about this country, which represents a promising market for the apple industry. Picture (from left to right): Thomas Mur, General Manager of Fiera Bolzano; Prof. Yongbing Yuan and Evi G?tsch, Project Manager of Interpoma.