By Mitch Moxley and Zhang Qi (China Daily)
Updated: 2007-07-27 09:55

A visitor at Experience Israel, a consumer goods event in Beijing, checks Israeli wine. [newsphoto]

Producers of Israeli wines, food and cosmetics are hoping their high-end products can find a way into the homes of China's increasingly affluent consumers.

But they could face an uphill struggle in China, where consumers still know little about the Mediterranean country's consumer products.

At Experience Israel, a consumer goods promotional event at Beijing's posh LAN Club on Wednesday, Israeli companies offered Chinese buyers samples of products ranging from hand lotion from the Dead Sea to wines from the Golan Heights.

"Taste the wine, taste the bread, taste everything that can be tasted," said Yehoyahda Haim, Israel's ambassador to China, during the event's opening ceremony. "Maybe you think that as an Israeli and as an ambassador I am biased, (but) let me know if you think they are good. I think they're very good."

The event, sponsored by the Israeli Embassy, the Israel Export & International Cooperation Institute and other organizations based in China, was a packed house, a sign of growing trade between the two countries. In 2006, bilateral trade between China and Israel reached $3.3 billion, an increase of 28 percent from the previous year.

Response from Chinese buyers at the event was encouraging, Israeli company representatives told China Daily.

Amnon Siva, vice-president of marketing for Mehadrin Tnuport Export, Israel's biggest exporter of citrus fruits, sees a huge growth opportunity in the Chinese market.

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"We are trying to analyze demand. I think there is a future (in China), because quality of life is improving and people would like to buy good-quality imported fruits," Siva said.

Avivit Turgeman was in Beijing with her husband promoting Stybel Ltd, a 72-year-old, third-generation family-owned flour milling business, Israel's largest.

The company is hoping to cash in on China's burgeoning middle class and their appetite for breads and other products that require high-quality flour. Stybel produces 80 different kinds of flour - including whole wheat, organic and enriched - each for a different purpose, ranging from baguettes to croissants to pizza dough.

"The use of flour (in China) is growing, and the use of bread will increase before the Olympics. We wanted to introduce to the Chinese market and we're having good feedback right now," Turgeman said.

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