SFF in Shanghai marketing venture

Silver Fern Farms is part of a group of New Zealand primary sector firms opening a joint marketing office in Shanghai.

Silver Fern Farms general manager sales Grant Howie said yesterday China was a key market for the food company.

China was a market where the Dunedin-headquartered company had experienced strong growth. Last year, sales to China were more than $380 million.

''A key focus for us from this initiative is on building relationships which expand our branded retail product sales and grow sales of our premier selection range with food service customers,'' he said.

China marketing manager Claire Tan was based in the Shanghai office and would represent Silver Fern Farms. She had a background in the red meat sector which made her a good fit to support Silver Fern's efforts in Shanghai and other key cites, Mr Howie said.

Silver Fern had been exporting to China for more than 25 years. The office continued the strategy to support the development of the China business with sales and marketing support.

The meat processor had established two online shops to sell branded retail products directly to consumers in Shanghai. Later this month, the company would launch a new Chinese language version of Silver Fern's website, he said.

Opening the office completed a three-year gestation to make life easier breaking into the world's second-biggest economy.

Primary Collaboration New Zealand officially opened its office in one of China's major cities, in what chairman Andy Borland hoped would give local firms a foothold in what was seen as a complex market.

The collaboration stemmed from the New Zealand primary sector boot camp movement held by industry chief executives and government agency leaders at Stanford University in 2012.

PCNZ's members also included fishing group Sealord, dairy firm Synlait Milk, vintner Villa Maria Estate, seafood company Kono and horticulture collaboration Pacific Pace.

Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce oversaw the opening ceremony, describing the initiative as a testament to New Zealand companies' ability to think laterally and meet the size and scale of opportunity to do business in China.

New Zealand had been a major beneficiary of an increasingly wealthy middle class in China, which had developed an appetite for high protein foods, particularly dairy.

Since the nations signed a free-trade agreement in 2008, New Zealand's exports to the world's most populous nation have soared, and were $8.92 billion in the year ended February 28.

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