Introduction

CMC attended the event in an attempt to assess the potential value of putting in certain investment to sponsor a talk or hold a booth at the next summit.

Organizer

Fruit and Vegetable Beverage Commission in cooperation with Beverage Industry Publishing House, under the auspices of its supervising body, the China Beverage Industry Association.

Theme & Structure of the Summit

The theme of this summit was “More Nutritious, More Diversified – The Blue Ocean of Fruit Juices”. The day-long event was divided into three parts:

1. Presentation on General Topics – reports by the association on work done since the last meeting, and market trends, as well as reports by selective companies of their recent developments
2. Special Topic I – NFC Juice
3. Special Topic II – Fermented Fruit and Vegetable Juice

Part 2 and 3 are carried simultaneously in separate rooms. Attendees chose the topics according to their own or their companies’ special interest and needs

Note: CMC did not participate in the factory visits in Suzhou after the summit.

Evaluation and Recommendations

Total number of attendees exceeded 300, representing 141 different beverage manufacturers and their suppliers, among them were some big name companies including Huiyuan Juice Group, Tetra Pak China, Krunes AG, and Capri-sun
The event’s pulling power comes from:
History and background of the China Beverage Industry Association which has recruited many international and domestic major players (incl. Coca Cola, Weichuan, Nongfu Spring etc) as members over the years
Networking opportunities for industry players due to the above
Popular topic foci – NFC and fermented juices are both potential growth areas for the maturing juice industry in China

Value of participating in future summits

Sponsoring a talk and setting up a booth at the venue (optional) would certain enhance awareness of cranberry juice and frozen cranberries among the major fruit juice manufacturers in the country and raise their interest in considering using cranberry juice for their new products
Getting winning new products is an important source of growth for most packaged foods companies as the market is getting mature
The key success factor is to have systematic follow through actions:
Obtaining name cards of the attendees and sending samples to those who express interest in cranberry products are not good enough
CMC should work out a market development plan with cranberry juice importers who are interested in penetrating the juice manufacturing industry, and
CMC should organize joint sales calls with such importers, visiting major manufacturers in the country