Companies leading the way to Asia
Pure NZ Greenshell Mussels Trading (Shanghai) Co.
Pure NZ Greenshell Mussels is a wholly foreign-owned enterprise established in Shanghai with investment from four top seafood companies in New Zealand: Sanford, Greenshell New Zealand, Kono NZ LP and Sealord Group Limited.
According to Rod MacKenzie, NZTE regional director for Greater China, this market grew by 147 percent last year, from virtually nothing to $30 million a year.
What makes this all the more remarkable is that this success comes on the back of a previous failure. An earlier attempt to establish this market by various New Zealand companies foundered when they ended up undercutting each other and destroying the premium pricing that made the niche viable.
“It shows what can be done by New Zealanders if we actually work together as opposed to against each other,” MacKenzie says. “We are too small for China. Our companies can’t compete with the major international competitors over there. We have to work together.”
Zuru Toys (zuru.com)
Zuru Toys in China’s toy centre of the Guangdong province in China is owned and operated by the Mowbray family, from Cambridge in Waikato.
It was founded by Matt Mowbray, who then got brother and sister Nick and Anna and his cousin Simon Rushbrook on board.
The group all moved to China permanently and are setting about capturing international toy markets and gaining an eight-figure turnover every year.