Global market trends to Chinese Onion customers

Jinchang city, Gansu (China). Vegetable Seeds organized the second Onion Industry Conference on August 24, 2018. More than 200 growers, onion traders, wholesalers, and seeds dealers attended the conference. With the support from the global specialized crop team, we brought global market insights to local customers. With the input of different roles in the chain, we were also able to deep dive the Chinese local market.

During the conference, Liu Wei (Regional Head APAC, M&S) generally introduced Vegetable Seeds and highlighted the new journey into BASF. Jeff Boettge (Global Head M&S Biennials) presented the global onion trade and shared his experiences in the onion business. He specifically introduced the market volatility, global trade, the rise of the consumer, the opportunity to differentiate, the shift to mechanization, and key success factors to the Chinese onion players. Taty Brisolla (Executive and communications coordinator of ANAPA and ANACE, Brazil) introduced the Brazil Association, explaining the working model, operation, and success factors. He provided valuable suggestions to the Chinese Onion Association, which was built with the leadership of the Chinese crop team a few years earlier.

Other than presentations, we organized two successful Round Table discussions which brought intelligence in a easy to understand and attractive way. In the Round Table of the global onion market, we mapped a general picture of the global onion market by discussing the growth structure, grower profile, consumption, mechanization, key success factors and threats of some regions, and market trends. During the round table session of the Chinese market, we discussed the different roles in the chain, the limitations, and vision, and we prepared specific questions which were of great interest to the customers.
As mentioned in the beginning, this is the second Onion Industry Conference organized by Vegetable Seeds. The first conference was organized in 2014 and focused on technical knowledge, onion disease management, onion mechanization, onion storage, and varieties. According to the feedback of customers and the crop team, a large number of customers were highly influenced and even started to study on onion disease management. With the software service of the crop team, the management level increased a lot in the last four years.

This time, we were bringing more than software and introduced brainware to our customers. They started to open their mind to the global market and started thinking more about the market trends. With the follow up service provided by our crop team, we can expect that the China onion industry will grow more healthy and stable.

 

About BASF’s Agricultural Solutions division
With a rapidly growing population, the world is increasingly dependent on our ability to develop and maintain sustainable agriculture and healthy environments. Working with farmers, agricultural professionals, pest management experts and others, it is our role to help make this possible. That’s why we invest in a strong R&D pipeline and broad portfolio, including seeds and traits, chemical and biological crop protection, soil management, plant health, pest control and digital farming. With expert teams in the lab, field, office and in production, we connect innovative thinking and down-to-earth action to create real world ideas that work – for farmers, society and the planet. In 2017, our division generated sales of €5.7 billion. For more information, please visit www.agriculture.basf.com or any of our social media channels.

About BASF
At BASF, we create chemistry for a sustainable future. We combine economic success with environmental protection and social responsibility. The more than 115,000 employees in the BASF Group work on contributing to the success of our customers in nearly all sectors and almost every country in the world. Our portfolio is organized into five segments: Chemicals, Performance Products, Functional Materials & Solutions, Agricultural Solutions and Oil & Gas. BASF generated sales of €64.5 billion in 2017. BASF shares are traded on the stock exchanges in Frankfurt (BAS), London (BFA) and Zurich (BAS). Further information at www.basf.com