For the first time in Meros history we are welcoming a Fall Research Assistant, Yoko Iino!
Yoko has a degree in Agriculture from Meiji University and spent a year studying at Srinakharinwirot University in Thailand, where she also was an agricultural volunteer working in a Hmong hill tribe village. She is now is close to completing her Master’s degree in Social Entrepreneurship at the International University of Japan in Niigata. She was accepted and trained by the Japanese government as a Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteer (JICA Volunteer) with plans for a two-year assignment in Rwanda to work on technical assistance in rural agriculture programs. However ultimately the pandemic scuttled her plans to work in Rwanda and she shifted focus to pursuing internship experience in Japan, instead of overseas.
Yoko will be joining the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries (MAFF) from January 2023 and to prepare for this new career, she will spend the fall working with Meros to deepen her experience in international agriculture development and learn advanced research skills.
Yoko discussed why she wanted to join Meros. “I was attracted by Meros’ value of “strength in diversity” and at the same time, I wanted to make good use of my educational background and work in agriculture. Initially, I was slightly anxious because everything was new and much of our communication is in English, but thanks to the kind support of Team Meros and intensive training, I had no trouble fitting into the environment.”
“I think Meros is the perfect environment to learn how to work in a professional office, how to collect and analyze data efficiently, and understanding the skillset required to become consultants. Because Meros fosters communication among teammembers I can feel free to ask anything. I really hope to absorb new things every day and contribute to Team Meros.”
In addition to jumping into Meros projects on topics such as insect for animal feed and agtech adoption in rural Japan, Yoko will be looking into feasibility of increasing organic agriculture in Japan, a goal of the government under the new Green Food System Strategy.
“In Japan’s Green Food System Strategy, which was enacted this year, a bold goal was set to expand organic farming to 25% of arable land (1 million hectares) by 2050. In addition, utilization of organic farming and conversion to organic farming is being actively discussed worldwide due to soaring prices of chemical fertilizers and growing awareness of the environmental impact of various farming methods. In this project, I am hoping to pursue the possibilities and challenges of organic farming in Japan through comparisons with conventional farming and organic farming in other countries, and also to investigate what kind of technologies and strategies could be introduced for the development of organic farming in Japan.”
Outside of the office this fall, Yoko plans to continue her love of cooking Thai, Chinese and Korean dishes – the spicier the better! She is a also a big fan of American TV dramas and movies and plans to spend time this fall immersed in Middle Earth with the new Lord of the Rings series.
Meros is excited to welcome Sonali Chauhan as the newest member of our team. Sonali joined us last month and is already deeply involved in a variety of Meros projects. She has a Ph.D. in agriculture development studies from the University of Tokyo and a background in botany.
Over the past decade, her projects have taken her to rural India and Japan, where she conducted field research and projects with communities in the forestry, agriculture, and fisheries sectors. She also worked on a national ecosystem assessment for the country of Grenada as part of a global initiative by UNEP-WCMC (UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre) to support biodiversity and ecosystem services. Grenada is the first Caribbean nation to participate in a national ecosystem assessment.
Sonali’s most recent work involved project management and capacity building for revitalization of the Fukushima region of Japan, a region deeply impacted by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, by forming a university alliance network under the Fukushima Coast Innovation Framework.
As an ethno-botanist, Sonali is fascinated by how human use of plants shapes society and culture. She is deeply interested in medicinal plants and curious about synergies between the agrifood and health industries. As a plant connoisseur, she loves trying and cooking different cuisines, including Moroccan and Mexican, making handmade skincare products and sharing interesting tidbits about plants. Her green thumb has already allowed the many plants in the Meros office to thrive like never before.
“The reason I am most excited to join Meros is because it is a perfect match for my career expectations – both the work culture and the subject area,” Sonali explained recently.
“I knew I wanted to work in food and agriculture consulting and learn from an experienced team. Not only does Meros provide just that, but also after talking to the team, I felt right at home geeking out about plants and talking passionately about food! It was the first time during my job hunt that I met people who matched my wavelength so well. This sense of belonging and team culture, as well as my high regard for the vast knowledge and experience of the team, sealed the deal for me and I knew I HAD to work at Meros.”
“I think Team Meros is all about enabling people to be their best individual selves, each one contributing their strengths and creating impactful results with detailed and diverse perspectives. I am looking forward to deep dives into various new interesting topics and adding new vantage points to Meros projects from my own background and experience.”
Since joining us, Sonali has worked with us to support the business development of a cultured meat start-up in Japan, dug into agricultural e-commerce in India and joined the team creating a guide to Japanese e-commerce.
At the University of Tokyo, Sonali’s doctoral work focused on technology adoption and impact of small-scale cultivation of medicinal plants on a tribal community in India. She is fluent in English, Japanese, Hindi and Gujarati.
After years of aiming at a one trillion yen export goal, in 2021, for the first time, Japanese agricultural, forestry and fishery products’ export value finally exceeded one trillion yen ($9.09 billion USD).
Export Value of Japanese Agricultural, Forestry and Fishery Products (2017-2021)
Source: Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
Hong Kong has long been a core market for Japan’s food and agriculture exports and it accounted for about 20% of Japan’s total exports in 2021. In particular, Japanese fruit is very popular in Hong Kong as premium fruit.
There are three main reasons why Japanese fruit has long been considered a premium fruit in the Hong Kong market. First, the fruit itself is considered by consumers to be extremely tasty with a beautiful appearance. Secondly, Japanese fruit tends to be nicely packaged, so between the appearance of the fruit itself and the attractive packaging, Japanese fruit is often used as a gift in Hong Kong. Finally, Hong Kong consumers’ general image of Japan as a supplier is positive: Japan is considered to be clean and safe with high quality products.
Strawberries, apples, and grapes are especially in high demand, with each export value exceeding two billion yen ($18.18 million USD). In recent years, however, other countries have been putting effort into developing new higher quality varieties, improving growing methods for existing varieties, developing creative gift packaging, and actively marketing their products. As a result, Japan’s position is increasingly under threat.
Meros recently worked in Hong Kong on issues of fruit branding and fruit variety market protections. We looked at three important premium fruit markets and what the rising new suppliers are doing to take on Japan’s long-time lead in the Hong Kong market.
Strawberries in Hong Kong
Japanese strawberries are exported to Hong Kong mainly from winter to spring. Korean strawberries are also exported during this same period. However, according to fruit importers and retailers in Hong Kong, Japanese and Korean strawberries are not in direct competition. The reason is that consumers feel Japanese strawberries are superior in taste and juiciness and are willing to pay higher prices (at the highest end, Amaou, the most common Japanese variety in Hong Kong costs about 130 HKD (16.90 USD) per pack). Korean strawberries are about half the price of Japanese strawberries, but have typically been inferior in taste and juiciness to the Japanese berries. But newer Korean brands and varieties are catching up.
A new variety called Kingsberry, which began to be imported from Korea a few years ago, reportedly has almost the same quality and similar price range as Japanese strawberries. At present, Kingsberry is not a threat to Japan because of its limited supply and low recognition, but Korea appears to be marketing Kingsberry in Hong Kong with Korean government support. If consumers awareness grows and the supply increases in Hong Kong, it is likely to become a strong rival to Japanese strawberries.
Japanese Yuubeni variety strawberries from Kumamoto Prefecture, $109 HK per pack (left) and Korean Berry Licious brand strawberries $89 HK (right) sold side by side in Hong Kong.
Apples in Hong Kong
Japanese apples are exported to Hong Kong mainly from fall to spring. Hong Kong also imports apples from countries other than Japan, including the US, China, and New Zealand. Imports from New Zealand in particular have increased in recent years. New Zealand has been putting effort into developing new varieties and is actively marketing these new apple varieties to other countries. Because New Zealand is located in the southern hemisphere, their apple season is the opposite of Japan, and New Zealand apples are mainly exported from spring to summer. However, improvements in storage technology are lengthening the period when apples can be sold, and the sales periods of Japanese and NZ apples are beginning to overlap. This should be worrying to Japanese apple exporters.
The New Zealand apple brand most commonly available in Hong Kong is Envy. According to importers and retailers in Hong Kong, Envy sales are increasing in recent years because of its good taste, juiciness, and crunchiness, with a price is less than half of the typical Japanese apples. New Zealand also began selling an apple called Rockit, which is very small in size but not much different in price from Japanese apples. Rockit is sold in a unique vertical tube package and makes a good gift. It is already selling well in China among the wealthy. The supply of Rockit in Hong Kong is still limited, but there is no reason to think it won’t increase in the future.
New Zealand’s Rockit apples are marketed in branded plastic cylinder packaging and seem to be good as gifts in Hong Kong.
Grapes in Hong Kong
Japanese grapes are exported to Hong Kong mainly from summer to winter. In recent years, the most popular Japanese grape variety in Hong Kong has been the Shine Muscat. Shine Muscat is also grown in China and Korea and these countries sell during similar months as Japan in Hong Kong. Even though Japan, China and Korea are growing the same variety, there are differences in taste, crispness and size, and Japanese Shine Muscat tends to excel in these aspects.
However, according to local traders, the quality of Chinese Shine Muscat has been improving recently because of the improvement in cultivation methods, and some Chinese grapes are getting close to the Japanese quality level with a price is sometimes less than half of the Japanese Shine Muscat. In addition, Autumn Crisp, a grape brand developed in the US, has become increasingly popular in recent years in Hong Kong. Autumn Crisp is green seedless grape and looks quite similar to Shine Muscat, but is much less expensive.
Until recently, Japanese fruit were far ahead of fruit from other countries in terms of their taste, appearance, packaging, and recognition as premium fruit. However, because of the efforts of other countries, that gap is narrowing. In order to break out of this situation, Japan will need to put effort into developing new higher quality varieties, improving cultivation methods for existing varieties, trying more innovative and unique packaging, and actively marketing their products. Otherwise, there is a strong possibility that Japanese premium fruit will be replaced in Hong Kong by supply from other countries in the not-too-distant future.
Conversely, from the perspective of countries other than Japan, there is potential to gain even more share of the premium fruit market that has long been dominated by Japan. The gift market is particularly large in Hong Kong, where the number of people sending fruit as gifts is increasing, partly due to growing health consciousness. By focusing on packaging and effective marketing, it should be very possible for newer suppliers to take share in the fruit gift market in Hong Kong – and this should be wake up call to Japanese exporters to avoid becoming complacent in the changing Hong Kong market.
Carefully packaged Korean grapes (below) and similarly bright, but less expensive unpackaged Australian grapes (above) may rival Japanese premium Shine Muscat.
What were the high value products that Japan exported to tip it over the one trillion yen mark? Here is Japan’s exports by value by major category in 2021. Within Japan’s global trade, apples rank #13 in value.
Source: Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
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