Del Monte Philippines Inc. (DMPI) saw its revenues from fresh pineapple exports reach P5.85 billion in April, with China as its primary market.
The fruit canner wants to have more retail outlets in tier 1 cities in China and to further penetrate the market for tier 2 and tier 3 cities with new distributors. It aims to double its fresh pineapple retail distribution network by 2025 from the current 15,000 outlets.
China, with an import volume of 182 million kilograms last year, is Del Monte’s primary market in North Asia. The country’s import of fresh pineapples has a compounded average growth rate of 18 percent from 2015 to 2020.
Citing analytics and consulting firm GlobalData, DMPI said in a statement that it is the biggest fresh pineapple exporter to China last year with a 53-percent market share. It is also a major supplier in Japan and South Korea, accounting for 33 percent and 21 percent of the market share, respectively.
Del Monte’s fresh pineapples are sold primarily under the “S&W Sweet 16” brand in China, Japan, and South Korea.
“Chinese consumers prefer trusted brands such as S&W which consumers are willing to pay a premium for,” said Liu Zhijie, owner of Goodfarmer Foods Holding Group Co. Ltd., one of DMPI’s key distributors in China.
“We are very pleased to be a partner of DMPI in expanding the fresh pineapple business in China where per capita consumption of imported pineapples is much lower than in other North Asian markets.”
“The high quality of fresh pineapples that we source from DMPI is the reason why they are among the market leaders in Japan. They have established a reputation for quality,” Union Co. Ltd. President Tatsuya Ishiguro added. Union is Del Monte’s biggest distributor in Japan.
The company earlier reported that its net income for fiscal year 2021 ending April improved by 33 percent to P4.6 billion from P3.5 billion the previous year. It attributed the higher bottom-line figures to better sales, lower costs and expenses and enhanced efficiency.
It also recently revived its plan to launch an initial public offering to raise as much as P44 billion.
Image courtesy of www.delmonte.com