JD Fresh, the fresh food arm of Chinese e-commerce giant JD, has announced the creation of a global alliance with 18 major fruit companies around the world.

The "global fruit branding strategy alliance" was announced last week at Asia Fruit Logistica.

The companies include New Zealand kiwifruit marketer Zespri, South Africa-based Capespan, U.S.-based berry company Driscoll's, Netherlands-based fruit company Fruitmasters and Chilean exporter Prize.

JD - one of China's two leading e-commerce companies, along with Alibaba - aims to establish close cooperation with the global alliance members in areas such as product packaging, introduction of new products, and promotion of new marketing channels.

The global fruit alliance will provide a more precise and focused fruit consumption experience with greater price-quality ratio for consumers, it said.

It added that under the alliance, fruits supplied by partner companies can reach China within 48 hours. The companies collectively cover six continents. 

JD Fresh has seen tremendous growth in imported fruit sales over recent years. In 2016 only 20% of fruit sales were of imported produce, but this figure grew to 45% in 2017, and so far in 2018 it is 65%.

It noted that cherries, berries, avocados were among the fruits driving the increase.