The Horti Asia is currently taking place in the Qingdao World Expo. The expo is smaller than in previous years because of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. This year, there are about 50 companies with display stands. In addition to the Chinese suppliers of greenhouse installations and related technologies, there's also a dedicated corner for the Dutch Agricultural Installation Alliance including Metazet, Certhon, Priva, and Signify.
Vertical farms and semi-closed greenhouses
Signify, formerly Philips, brought along installations for vertical farms as well as high-end glass greenhouse lighting installations. Liu Xin, the company's applied engineer, said: "This is still an excellent opportunity to meet with colleagues from the same industry. We hope to meet many new clients in the next few days."
Manager Shen Li, the Chinese representative of the Dutch Certhon company, introduced many visitors on the first day of the expo to the Certhon semi-closed greenhouse, as well as their automated farm. According to manager Shen, "when I mentioned the semi-closed greenhouse on previous occasions, many people had not heard of it, but in recent years the awareness is growing among people in the industry. In this expo, we have seen many company representatives who purposefully seek us out to inquire about the Certhon semi-closed greenhouse. That is an improvement in the industry, and we are very happy to see this development."
Rapid developments ask for local suppliers
Wang Linhu, manager of the Dutch company Metazet Zwethoven B.V. talked to Ina, the representative of the Dutch Agricultural Association in China. "The Chinese horticultural industry has developed rapidly in the last few years. These days many companies choose installations from abroad. However, China is a large country with different climates in different regions, which means that different regions have different requirements for greenhouse installations. We set up branch companies inside China to better serve different parts of the country. Not only can we custom-make our greenhouses according to the needs of our clients, but all the components can be locally manufactured to save on production costs and keep the price low for our clients."
The expo will continue for two more days until the 17th of September. The expo also hosts several forums, including the 2021 International Peat Technology Forum, the Greenhouse Equipment and Plantation Technology Innovation Forum, and a promotional event for the connection between marketing and retail of Israeli fruit and vegetable harvest and post-harvest management technology. The events will take place in person and online.
For more information:
Horti China
www.hortichina.com