Economic Trade Mission in China
In November, there was an economic trade mission to China, led by Princess Astrid of Belgium. This was the biggest trade mission ever and had a record-breaking number of 632 participants.
About 280 Belgian companies have joined, including Poppies! Brecht Castelein and Julie Naessens represented our company and made connections for further business opportunities.
The mission crossed Beijing and Shanghai. The program contained many activities, such as a meeting with Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group. This meeting, organized by Fevia en AWEX, showed that new online retail methods can provide opportunities to introduce Belgian products to the Chinese middle class. Also, our Poppies speculoos was part of the gift of Princess Astrid to Alibaba.
A few highlights from the mission were the reception in Beijing, where our mini donuts were presented and the official signing ceremony in the presence of Princess Astrid, where Poppies signed a distribution agreement with FB Solution to distribute our donuts in the food service channel.
A special thanks to our Commerical Director Brecht Castelein and Sales Manager Julie Naessens for representing Poppies on this successful mission!
While the mission lasted only 5 days, preparations took several months. Many thanks to Lore Lernou for the great organization and preparation!
