Finnish meat processor HKScan’s plan to expand in China has been boosted by a deal agreed with retail giant Alibaba.
With a deal forged around its omega-3 pork products, Helsinki-based HKScan has become the first company in the Finnish meat industry to gain access to Alibaba’s Hema supermarket chain and online store.
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Alibaba – best known as an online retailer – opened its semi-automatic Hema store chain in 2017. There are around 100 Hema supermarkets across China.
Jukka Nikkinen, head of HKScan’s export business, said: “The Hema chain stands out in the Chinese market with high-quality and exceptional products. This chain is very hard to get in to, only a couple of Finnish products have been accepted to the chain.
“The pure taste, healthier fat composition plus the arctic twist of our products convinced Hema and they made a quick decision to include our products to their selection.
“Hema’s unique online store facilitates our branding efficiently and we get to tap into the right consumer segment.”
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By GlobalDataHKScan has been concentrating efforts on the Chinese market for around a year.
In February 2018, it signed an agreement to establish a joint venture in China with Zhejiang Qinglian Food Co.
It launched pork exports to China from its Forssa production unit in April.
Nordic Lotus Food Co, HKScan & Zhejiang Qinglian Food’s joint venture to sell and market products, was officially registered at the end of September.
HKScan’s stated aim is to export 3, 000 tonnes of pork meat to China in its first year with plans to triple that volume by 2020.
