In November last year, Chinese vertically integrated produce company Gold Anda Agricultural successfully launched a subsidiary in Chile. CEO Jinshan Xie said its huge investment in a Curico packhouse marked the first of its kind by a Chinese entity in the country. Fresh Fruit Portal recently sat down with Xie to discuss why he chose Chile for the latest facility and the company's plans for he future.

“Chile is the furthest country from China and we have opposite seasons, the potential could be foreseen in opening a new business here,” he said, explaining that developing a new business in the country would be a “good challenge and opportunity.”

The initial idea was developed and established in January 2018 and the factory construction was finished in October.

“To be able to proceed so fast and efficiently in South America has exceeded my expectations,” Xie said.

He explained that Gold Anda has always been quick at developing new packhouses and looking for new global business.  

“It surely takes a lot of efforts and time to run and maintain the new factory in Curico.”

There are currently around 300 employees in the facility.

Competitive advantage and challenges

“We’re a one-stop global fruit importer and exporter covering the industry chain, we do everything,” Xie said.

The company owns different Chinese online fruit sales platforms such as Guoego, Kaiguo, Woxian etc.

“We have a lot of local partners in Chile - compared to local importers and exporters our services and sales in China are more diverse with bigger market.” 

Finding more fruit suppliers is the company’s biggest priority at the moment, but he believes this situation will improve over time as growers after the successful first season.

Company’s future direction and expectations

“Gold Anda Chile is just a new start. .As a global exporter and importer, we’re constantly looking to invest around the world in the right place and at the right time,” he said.

“Currently our most successful business is in Australia - every year there is a big amount of fruits to be exported to China. We’ll invest and develop a new factory whenever there’s an opportunity. Maybe soon, we’ll also have a new investment in Peru,” Xie said.

“We don’t just deal with Chilean cherries, we deal with all the fruits, we also export a lot of fruits to other countries. Those include China’s pears, grapes, Hami melons, apples, oranges, citrus etc. We also import a lot of jackfruits from Thailand, and other fruits from Vietnam, Canada, U.S., Australia, South Africa, Egypt etc.”

On Chilean cherries, he said that it is hard for most markets to compete with China as it’s such a big and rewarding market.

He predicts that cherry prices will go down along with a big increase in cherry productions, as a result there will be more shares to other markets outside of China.