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Podravka conquering Chinese market, first products this summer

Author: half
BEIJING/ZAGREB, May 24 (Hina) - Croatia's leading food company, Podravka, has embarked on conquering China and its first products should appear in Chinese supermarkets this summer.

The first to be offered will be water, iced tea, confectionery and baby food, likely in July or August, the director of Podravka's Beijing office, Goran Kapicic, has told Hina.

Podravka is the only Croatian company with a Chinese office, which was opened on January 13. The company had been trying to enter the Chinese market for over 20 years but realised that without showing it was serious about it and its physical presence in China, that was virtually impossible.

Podravka "attended fairs, tried to do something independently, but it didn't work... The Chinese want to constantly communicate, see and meet their collaborator, and that's how a deal gets made," Kapicic said.

China is one of the world's economic powers with a market of 1.4 billion inhabitants. The Beijing area alone has 32 million inhabitants. Over 27,000 foreign companies have opened their offices in Beijing and nearly 450,000 in all China.

Kapicic said the older population would continue to prefer the traditional Chinese cuisine, while the younger population would accept new things.

He said Podravka's first products in China would be easy to register, within two to four weeks, because they had no animal origin, whereas meat and fish products took up to four years to register, so Podravka will wait before marketing them there.

As for Podravka's most well-known brand, the Vegeta spice, Kapicic said it would not be easy to market because the Chinese market was full of spices to which the Chinese were used.

Apart from supermarkets, Podravka plans to enter the Chinese Internet market too, which last year recorded a turnover of EUR 415 billion, an annual increase of 49 percent and a 10.7% share of all retail in China.

Kapicic said every Chinese province was a market in itself and that every major city had its particularities, as seen in the administration of imports as well as the promotion and distribution of goods. He said Podravka could not rely on just one Chinese partner to conquer the Chinese market because it was a "huge country".

Asked by Hina how Podravka could compete with US, German, French and other big corporations, Kapicic said "we will offer the same quality, but at a somewhat lower price. It's the only way, because we don't have enough money for stronger promotion with such competition."

Since football is the only thing the Chinese remember and recognise Croatia for, Podravka representatives will wear the recognisable red and white jerseys of the national team, since those are also Podravka's colours, Kapicic said.

A little over 200 Croatian citizens live in China.

(Hina) ha

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