• China is already the world's biggest e-commerce market for food
  • e-commerce will become the most important distribution platform in the coming years
  • Target for 2018: EUR 25 million in online food sales

Hamburg, 4 March 2016. KTG Agrar SE (ISIN: DE000A0DN1J4) has successfully started to sell food produced from its own resources on the leading Chinese online marketplaces. KTG thus opens up an important growth market for its own products made in Germany. In a first step, the company has, together with retail partners, opened shops for the 'biozentrale' and 'Die Landwirte' brands on the Tmall Global platform of the Alibaba Group and on JD.com. The focus will initially be placed on high-quality breakfast cereals and oils. 'After thorough market studies, this is a strategic first step in a market of the future. We are convinced that the Chinese middle and upper class - which is larger than the US population - will realise the added value of our products made in Germany in conjunction with our 'from field to plate' strategy and that we will develop a strong market for our company in the medium term,' says Siegfried Hofreiter, CEO of KTG Agrar SE.

While online sales of food in Europe are only slowly picking up, Chinese consumers already ordered food worth USD 41 billion on the Internet in 2015 - and rising strongly. Consulting firm IDG expects sales to climb to USD 178 billion already by 2020, with China assumed to expand its world-leading position. In addition, KTG benefits from a clear guarantee of origin, which definitely encourages Chinese consumers to buy such products not least because of the many food scandals surrounding Chinese-made products in the past years. This is why especially the strongly growing middle and upper class of 350 million people are increasingly buying high-quality food made in Europe.

KTG Agrar believes that online sales in Asia and Europe are an important growth driver. Siegfried Hofreiter comments: 'We clearly aim to increase online sales of our food segment from currently less than EUR 5 million to over EUR 25 million by 2018.' The domestic e-commerce activities are also expected to contribute to this growth. This year, KTG will invest in distribution via Amazon, among others.

Simultaneous to its online presence, KTG will also enter the traditional food market in China and is building up its distribution activities in the country. In a first step, the company was able to list its products with important Chinese food retailers in the past months. Besides regular participation in the leading Chinese trade fairs, the company will therefore focus on advising its retail customers in China in the coming weeks.

KTG Agrar AG issued this content on 04 March 2016 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 04 March 2016 08:00:51 UTC

Original Document: http://www.ktg-agrar.com/news/news-detail/ktg-agrar-se-starts-online-sales-in-china-biozentrale-and-die-landwirte-available-at-alibaba-and-jdcom.html