Partnering with Goldsmith Seeds and expanding production into China has broadened Fischer USA's horizons in a whole new way.
IT'S a clever move - tapping into unlimited labor resources and contracting brand-new, state-of-the-art facilities with little to no capital investment on its part. Some in the U.S. floriculture industry are apprehensive about continued expansion of offshore vegetative production of vegetative material. But for Fischer Worldwide, its new business ventures in China are fueling its growth into new markets and opportunities.
"The primary reason to produce in China is to be there when it becomes an established market for our products," says Fischer Co-president Gary Falkenstein. "Currently the pricing and level of plant protection do not make it very interesting - but we and others are working hard on these issues. Until that time, the economics make it possible to import into the United States."
With a major "greening effort" underway in China in preparation for the 2008 Olympic Games in Bejing, Falkenstein says Fischer and its partners are poised for expansion into a whole new world. "In the long term, China will become its own major market and the consumption of floriculture products will be immense," he says. "We are working directly with the Beijing Garden Bureau as a sponsor of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In fact, I played golf in Shanghai with the director of the Beijing Garden Bureau in September. It never hurts to develop business over a game of golf."
With a major "greening effort" underway in China in preparation for the 2008 Olympic Games in Bejing, Falkenstein says Fischer and its partners are poised for expansion into a whole new world. "In the long term, China will become its own major market and the consumption of floriculture products will be immense," he says. "We are working directly with the Beijing Garden Bureau as a sponsor of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In fact, I played golf in Shanghai with the director of the Beijing Garden Bureau in September. It never hurts to develop business over a game of golf."
