Goodwei Yellow-Fleshed Kiwifruit Debut in Taiwan

This content is sponsored by Jingold, the Italian kiwifruit consortium established in 2012 and renowned for its golden Jintao variety.

Jingold’s strategy to expand production into China has achieved initial success as the company produces its China-grown Jintao kiwifruit commercially for the second year.

Jingold is an Italian-based company, globally recognized as one of the leaders in the kiwifruit industry. Jingold’s signature cultivar Jintao was developed by Wuhan Botanical Garden decades ago. Due to widespread optimism as to Jintao’s market prospects, Jingold acquired exclusive breeding rights for the variety in the 1990s, with production spreading to multiple locations across Northern and Southern Hemispheres over the following two decades.

Goodwei is a brand jointly launched in 2017 by Jingold and Wuhan Botanical Garden specifically for China-produced kiwifruit. This season’s Goodwei kiwifruit hit the market in mid-October. In addition to supplying a range of channels in mainland China, Goodwei arrived in Taiwan for the first time this month, representing another significant milestone for the company.

Official figures indicate that Taiwan imported 36,776 tons of kiwifruit in 2018, of which New Zealand played a leading role, accounting for 83.3% of the total imports. During the same period, kiwifruit from mainland China only had a market share of 0.5%.

This exciting debut is a tangible demonstration of China’s improved competitiveness in the global fruit market, changing the negative views held by some fruit dealers in Taiwan about products from mainland China to some extent. To prepare for their Taiwan debut, Jingold has expended considerable and consistent efforts over the years. Since the Chinese government upholds strict inspection and quarantine requirements for kiwifruit exports, the company spent two years in meticulous preparation before finally gaining export qualification. At the same time, Taiwan also maintains a rigorous commitment to high standards in food safety and quality, with the entry threshold for kiwifruit destined to Taiwan including the detection of over one hundred pesticide residue items.

According to Harry Xu, General Manager at Jingold (Shanghai) Fruits and Vegetables Trading Co., Ltd., Jingold will be continuously upgrading its supply chain to achieve a high level of standardization and technological innovation at every stage, from plantation to market. Xu believes that a sustainable business model in China will help the company not only win more Chinese consumers, but also plug the supply gap between Italian and Chilean Jintao kiwis in China through Goodwei’s increased output. When this is achieved, Jingold will enter a new stage of its global supply system, which involves relying more on China and Italy for production in the Northern Hemisphere and on Chile for Southern Hemisphere production.

Images: Jingold