China Focus: Healthy snacks, blockchain coffee, gummy supplements and more in our round up

Rebrand and reintroduce: UK’s Eat Real outlines second attempt to enter China with clean and healthy snacks The makers of UK-based healthy snack brand Eat Real is planning to launch into China later this year, its second attempt at cracking the highly lucrative market. Eat Real first entered China around two years ago, and retracted in 2020 after finding it difficult to break the market. It was working with three different distributors, and sold its healthy snacks on online channels such as Tmall. Farm to cup: Indonesia’s ALKO brews plans to export blockchain coffee to China Indonesia-based cooperative Alko Sumatra Kopi (ALKO) intends to export 100 tonnes of specialty-grade Arabica Kerinci coffee to China this year, paired with its blockchain technology. Historically, China has been a tea drinking country, and while coffee consumption remains small, has been increasing over the years. According to Daxue Consulting, per capita coffee consumption in China was 6.2 cups in 2018, raising to 7.2 cups in 2019. Functional gummy growth: China’s BUFFX gears up for new product launches with ambitious US$15m sales goal China’s functional food start-up BUFFX is gearing up to launch 16 new products as part of its target to achieve RMB100 million (US$15m) in sales this year. BUFFX first entered the market in late 2020, with seven gummy supplements, targeting energy, sleep, eye, immunity, digestion and liver health. Its sleep supplement containing GABA has been the top selling product in the ‘sleep’ category on e-commerce site Tmall since October 2020. Heads up: Higher intake of dietary calcium and magnesium may reduce migraine A higher intake of calcium and magnesium from the diet is linked with lower migraine occurrence, according to researchers from Harbin Medical University in China who analysed more than 10,000 cases. Migraine is a common neurological disorder and previous studies have demonstrated nutrients such as magnesium, riboflavin, coenzymes Q10, vitamin B12, vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acid can help in preventing migraine, through nerve function. There are limited studies on calcium and its association to migraine onset, and even for magnesium, most studies for migraine prevention are limited to drugs and supplements. Kimchi retaliation? South Korea moves to stop ‘misidentification’ of Chinese food products as Korean in Thailand and Vietnam South Korea is promoting measures overseas to stop the ‘misidentification’ of Chinese food products as Korean, a policy likely prompted on the back of a recent kimchi feud with China. The South Korean Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (MAFRA) has announced that it will be formally promoting measures in foreign markets to stop consumers from mistakenly identifying Chinese food products such as fruits as Korean exports in order to both prevent confusion and ‘stop damage to the reputation of Korean exports’. “In foreign markets and especially in South East Asia, there have been concerns about the decline of the image and reputation of Korean food products being sold there, [even though these products are actually not Korean-made or produced],” MAFRA Minister Kim Hyeon-su said in a formal statement.

China Focus: Healthy snacks, blockchain coffee, gummy supplements and more in our round up

Eat Real’s healthy snack expansion, ALKO’s blockchain coffee, BUFFX’s gummy supplements and more feature in this edition of China Focus.

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