Metro Cash & Carry, the leading international wholesale chain, will present to delegates at this year’s Asiafruit Congress on its groundbreaking venture for sourcing from producers in China – Star Farm.
Established as a fully-funded subsidiary of Metro Cash & Carry in 2007, Star Farm works directly with producers in China to source safe, quality food for domestic and export markets through a sophisticated traceability system.
“As the first agri-technology consulting and training service company invested and established by Metro Cash & Carry China, Star Farm has been providing training to local farmers for standard processing and transparent management,” said Lv Guoman, senior vice-president of Metro Cash & Carry China in a company statement. “One of the most outstanding features is that we implemented a traceability system to control the food quality from farm to fork.”
Hans Peter Reust, the managing director of Star Farm Agricultural Consulting Company, will be on hand to provide Asiafruit Congress delegates with an in-depth overview of the venture and its workings. Mr Reust will introduce the principles behind Star Farm before going on to explain how the quality assurance system was implemented in China together with Metro. He will also outline Star Farm’s achievements to date and reveal its future plans.
“Asiafruit Congress delegates will find this project very unique in Asia and it represents a real best practice in terms of what can be achieved locally,” said John Glover, food director at MGB Metro Group Buying HK Ltd. “Star Farm will also now be producing for export as well as for Metro Cash & Carry’s domestic requirements in China.”
Mr Reust’s presentation will form part of a session on Day Two of the Asiafruit Congress on the sourcing opportunities that the Asian region offers for the international fresh produce business. The session, which takes place on 3 September under the theme “Asia: an attractive sourcing opportunity”, will also be addressed by Phil Morris of Chaoda Green Leaf and Bill Gerlach of Melissa’s World Variety Produce, who will present on the opportunities and challenges they see for sourcing fresh fruit and vegetables from Asia for the European and US markets respectively.
Major multinational retail and wholesale groups have been stepping up their direct sourcing programmes from Asian producers in recent years with a focus on supplying their regional and international store networks – and the Star
Farm venture will provide an interesting case study in this context.
The Asiafruit Congress will take place alongside ASIA FRUIT LOGISTICA on 2-4 September at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.
Keep up to date with speaker and programme news by joining the mailing list at info@asiafruitcongress.com or visit www.asiafruitcongress.com to view the current Asiafruit Congress programme.
For all marketing and press queries, contact:
Alexandra Walker
Marketing Manager
Asiafruit Congress 2009
Hong Kong, 2-4 September
Tel: +44 207 501 3719
Fax: + 44 207 498 6472
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