Last week, Mr.Chen received numerous offers of ginger from many suppliers in his Chinese network. "A lot of Chinese exporters are at a loss now that they can no longer sell their ginger in Russia and Ukraine. That is why they are calling now that their container is on its way or has arrived in one of the European ports."
"Sometimes we can offer a solution, thanks to our customer base in Europe," says Mr.Chen as a 100% subsidiary of a Chinese growers' organization, focuses on the import, sorting, and packaging of ginger for the European market. "But I also get offered frozen Fruits & Vegetables. Unfortunately, I am not able to do business with frozen products. "
Last summer, Intafresh stopped importing Chinese ginger because of the sky-high freight rates. The cost price of importing a container is higher than the break-even point. "With the start of the new ginger season, we also restarted the import of Chinese ginger. The freight rates have also dropped again compared to last year."
"The ginger market has come under pressure, however, due to the large supply. The quality of the new ginger has improved but is still not good enough for direct sales, and the current market situation is not healthy for our business, we are focusing on offering cleaning, drying, and packing, or even storage services, to clients now," concludes Mr.Chen.