Trung Phan@TrungTPhan23h ago

WSJ on how “Driscoll's Gave China Its Blueberries—Then China Swiped the Secret to Growing Them”:  ▫️In 2010, Driscoll’s sent its top blueberry expert to China’s Yunnan province. ▫️The fruit growing giant wanted to expand into Chinese market and thought blueberries best option. ▫️Japan was already growing strawberries while raspberries/blackberries were seen as “too foreign for Chinese palates”. ▫️Driscoll’s shared its seed IP and greenhouse designs with select growers. ▫️ “Before long, Driscoll’s was running a small berry empire in China. It worked with more than 150 growers to produce some 30,000 metric tons of fresh blueberries a year in Yunnan—about what California produces annually.” ▫️But the trade secret soon spread across the local farming with dozens of illegal nurseries. ▫️“Production in China has shot up 25-fold since 2010. In 2021, China overtook the U.S. as the world’s top blueberry grower, and by 2025 its annual production was double what it was in the U.S.” at ~800,000 metric tons of blueberries while US is under 400,000. ▫️Blueberry prices in China completely collapsed (down by half over the past decade).  ▫️Driscoll’s has filed 20 lawsuits and Chinese courts have ruled against some domestic growers (paid fines and had to burn crops). More broadly, China’s agricultural sector growing rapidly with 60% of world’s greenhouses in the country already by 2019. Other cash crops succeeding in China include avocados, durian and tomatoes. Driscoll's annual revenue across all berries is $7B a year, making it the 2nd largest earning brand in American grocery chains (other than Coca-Cola). China still consumes less blueberries (half per capita to US and Europe) and market opportunity large enough Driscoll's trying to hang around the country. *** Full read here: https://www.wsj.com/business/driscolls-berry-farms-china-competition-b0b49f04