Destination China

[smpsmp45]

One should refer to Ashrae Newsletter September 07. It says China shall require 3,65,000 refer trucks, 5 billions Cft of cold stores by 2017.

I think all should now concentrate on China market!!!

[thermo prince]

Hi SMPSMP45, thanx for the heads up on that.

The cold chain growth in India may accelerate and perhaps overtake the China's demand long before 2017 so be confident in your own country and don't lose sight of opportunity there.
You are putting in infrastructure now and all the overseas MNC's are vying for position on the theme of supermarkets and convenience stores ,with local partners in India. We read of that all the time plus CNBC and Bloomberg forever talk it up!

The China dream has been a long time coming and there have been many frustrations and false starts even going back to 1980's.
Examples ....
Dairy consumption is not high per capita and who know if if it will grow: soy bean milk and soya products are dominant.
Ice cream consumption was a quick fad in the early millenium but has faltered. One major m.n.c has greatly scaled back its icecream expansion plans ; even sold off its truck fleet.
Yes the hamburger and pizza guys are doing well but its still not the staple diet for 1,300,000,000 people!!!

Frozen meats will take a long time to take off - Chinese still like fresh fish from the tank or fish farm : vegetables are chopped fresh each morning : chickens are sold live and just culled at point of sale.
This is a culture thing all over ..... I'm not talking only 500 miles into the hinterland of China , hey I can see all this in the " wet markets" of HK daily. Pigs and cattle even shipped live to HK every day on 1/2 mile long freight trains and culled at nearby abattoirs to satisfy HK's 6million++ population.

China will develop cold chain in its own good time : personally I would not lose sight of India getting there first.
Amazingly, climate control buses and rail have taken off much faster than transport refrigeration! Go figure that one ....

best regards
T-P

[smpsmp45]

Hi T-P

I liked the write up. It is so impressive. You keep track of India in very good sense.

It is true that things do happen slowly in India, but one positive aspect is that it is happening for sure.

No one had thought of retail revolution to happen here with lots of antiquated laws on AGRI Produce., But slowly that is changing.

We find the concerns are - from Business Point of view.
1. Quality conciousness. That is still missing in many industires. Only after Few MNC like Lever insisted on panels for cold store, small retaliers / distributors started using Panels. & I would say it tool alomost 15 years for that transformation to take place & now it is touching the positive cold stores as well.
2. Roads / Infrstructure related issues - When we were trying to have a tie up with PolyFont - French company in insulated truck body business, the team from France was shocked to see the road conditions & their design had to undergo lots of modifications due to road conditions. But that is improving.

However In China if govt decides things can happen over night.!!!

[thermo prince]

Thank you for your kind words SMPSMP45 and we will be sure to keep an eye on both India and China.

Definitely, both are major emerging powers - just look at how they are driving demand for oil, copper, bauxite, steel (e.g Lakshmi Mittal with Arcelor to be the world's biggest steel player ) globally - plus foodstuffs and telecoms progress.
China Mobile has some 350 million cellphone users on its accounts - can you imagine the daily revenues, assuming each owner spends even 1 USD per day? Your telecoms are likewise booming.
PetroChina recently outstripped EXXON Mobil, Walmart and CitiCorp as world's largest corporation by USD capitalization.
Nothing like it anywhere ..... it's the new Yukon or Alaska with a bit of Deadwood City thrown in.

Did I read recently that TATA Motors or Ashok Leyland would bid for Volvo Automotive (passenger car division) and Jaguar that Ford is trying to hive off.?
Bharat Forge from India supply crankshafts and other forged engine parts to some of the top names in the automotive world - it reads like a Top 10 from JD power magazine almost!!!

Look at Bharti and Reliance in the retail sector as you pointed out. Some super plans being rolled out there to improve the food preservation & availability culture and enhance the standard of living nationwide.

Yes, it's quite a strange oxymoron .....
India the greatest democracy in the world tended ( in the past) to get bogged down in bureaucracy and 'red tape'.
China , the biggest communist state in the world is now 'green light' to progress and making money , or to use a lovely quote, often attributed to the late Deng Xiaopeng when asked what system China adopted in its reform of the early 1990's " socialism with capitalist characteristics" - essentially, he exhorted the people to go forth and get rich ! Another saying " doesn't matter black cat or white cat, so long as can catch mouse" also urged progress and business enterprise inside the state.

Which both countries are doing some some spectacular success I may add.

Good luck to both of them in stimulating domestic consumption and expanding exports but in so doing I wish that they like rest of the world will be mindful of the environment henceforth.
The heavy snowstorms and blizzards in China as I write have brought home a strong wake-up call to Beijing. Unprecedented weather in over 50 yrs and they are totally unprepared for it.

that's my editorial for today, ......
kind regards
T-P

[smpsmp45]

It feels nice to know what impressions India is creating on others

[TXiceman]

China has a tendency to buy one and then copy it and sell at a much lower price than from other countries.

Ken