The numbers that tumble out of Asia continue to beggar belief, and this month’s big event in Hong Kong did little to dispel that notion. In fact, it’s got to the point where a friend who runs a very big fresh produce business in one of Europe’s largest markets remarked to me over lunch the other day that he’d be out building a business in Asia if only he were 20 years younger. Regrettably, we can’t turn the clock back for him, but consider what you’ll see if you run the clock forward and you will begin to understand why my lunch partner should be thinking this way.
Patrick Vizzone, who is Rabobank International’s Hong Kong branch managing director, was the bearer of the big numbers this time around. Featuring on the front cover of the July/August issue of Asiafruit, Vizzone used an interview on the inside pages to trail his 40-minute presentation that opened this year’s Asiafruit Congress. We are planning to get a version of it online soon, and do listen to what he has to say.
For his was a catalogue of jaw-dropping statistics, and not just those related to agriculture. Take this one, by way of example: in India, where one-third of the population is aged under 14, the working-age population is set to grow in the next 20 years by more than the current working-age population of Europe. It really is enough to give you indigestion. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, but Asia is where it’s at.
Two years ago, Chilean Exporters’ Association president Ronald Bown used a platform at the same event to predict that Asia would become the Southern Hemisphere country’s largest single market in the next few years. That seemed incredible at the time, but appears far more credible today. No wonder there were so many Chilean companies crowding the halls of Asia Fruit Logistica.
Some suppliers that visited last month’s trade fair grumbled about its relocation to a new site beside to Hong Kong’s international airport. The 25-minute, high-speed train ride from Hong Kong’s stunning harbour to an uninspiring headland on the shores of the Pearl River, where AsiaWorld-Expo is located, is unconscionable until you hear the story of what is planned for this piece of land.
These few hundred hectares on the western outskirts of Hong Kong are central to one of five huge projects underwritten by Beijing. This one will transform the region. The fantastically titled Twelfth Five-Year Plan of the People’s Republic of China includes the world’s longest road bridge (62km) to connect Hong Kong with Macau and the nearby city of Zhuhai; a road tunnel to connect with Kong Sham Western Highway that heads up to Guangzhou; and a new high-speed railway line that links Hong Kong with the new international airport in Shenzhen.
By 2016, the same halls that this year played host to more than 350 exhibitors from 60 different countries will be within one hour’s drive of 100m people – or, if you prefer to count the zeros, 100,000,000 people. Only a minute fraction need to be fresh produce buyers for things to get really interesting.
Having the equivalent of one-third of the total population of Europe within just an hour’s journey of his business premises would be more than sufficient to keep my dining companion happy for the remainder of his days in business. Europe undoubtedly remains a huge and vital market for fresh fruit and vegetables – you only have to peek into the halls of the original Fruit Logistica in Berlin to appreciate that – but its halcyon days are arguably over.
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