Japan Pink Lady　Ｂｕｓｉｎｅｓｓ Association IPAL Market Reviews in Japan   1. There is still a very small production and therefore not much experience of the market. 2, Each member is selling directly to their customers and there is currently no collective relationship between the members for sales.   Production 2008 . We have 9 growers who first planted trees in 2006,  these 900 trees had a few apples in 2007 and in 2008 total production was 2 tonnes . This was sold for 636,000yen (About $5,000US)   Promotions for markets 2008   Japanese famous fruit shops came to farm on last November . It was just after harvest of Pink Lady® apples . Their names are Takashimaya and Senbikiya . Everybody knows these names in Japan . They sell premium apple about 800yen for each in their shops. 800yen is about $7US dollars . They ate Pink Lady®, and said it’s very sour. It ‘s everything over !! I sent Pink Lady® to them in February after 2months in storage. Unfortunately their answer was very bad. It seems that their opinion of the fruit was affected by their experience in November. This experience makes a very important point for us. Don’t take Pink Lady® apple to consumers just after harvest. Don’t take Pink Lady® apple to consumers just after harvest for fresh eating, only for cooking. Only take to cake shops, few customers and restaurants which use apples for cooking.  They want to buy sour apples.     Markets 2009   1, We think productions will 4 tons this year . 2, We have already 3Kg and 5 Kg package . We will make 10kg package soon. Also we think make more small package for 3-5 apples for Valentine day. 3, We will send Pink Lady® apples to the wholesale market in Tokyo in Februaly .  In Japan large and nice red colour apples are premium .They have very good prices. We will accumulate large size Pink Lady® apple from members and sell.   Promotions  　In February we will have a demonstration and taste testing for buyers in Ota market in Tokyo .  　We have made a partnership with Net shop company this year. They printed lots of advertisement leaflets for customers.    The aim is get as many Japanese people as possible to know the name of the apple. That is Pink Lady® WOW .   IPAL Production Reviews in Japan   1, Pink Lady Japan has 20 A class members and 17 B class members. An A class member has more than 100 trees each.  B class member has trees just for testing with no commercialisation rights. 2, We have 3,000trees planted in Japan. It is only 1% of our final target.   Promotion for growers .   It is very hard to expand the number of growers in Japan. The reasons for this are many. Growers think it’s very difficult to sell Pink Lady® apples because Japanese consumers like large and sweet apples . They ask if Japanese people will accept the taste of Pink Lady®? Pink Lady Japan has the answer to this question. Don’t hurry to sell fruit directly off the trees you must wait until February . Almost all Japanese apple growers don’t have cool storage available to them so how do they store the apples until February? To achieve this the PLJ must talk to the JA Cooperation . JA has many grower members and has pack houses and coolstores in every growing region of Japan. PLJ is wary of dealing with JA as it will want to pack the fruit if it’s storing it and JA has no control of the price in the wholesale market where they traditionally send their fruit. Currently JA don’t understand the system of Pink Lady® so we need to educate them. If JA simply tries to market the fruit as it does for everything else there will be no price premium for the growers. Pink Lady® is new and we need to ensure that its marketed that way and we keep the price at higher levels.  But if we don’t make a partnership with JA it will be very hard to encourage more growers to plant. We think some of the large apple (more than 280g) we will send to wholesale market through JA Cooperation from February 2009 to test the system.   Problems of the apple indusrty in Japan Japanese apple industry has problems we think Pink Lady® apple has some answers.   1.     Consumption – Japanese consumers do not eat apples in the same quantity as people in the west. For example, in Germany and Italy  they eat five times as many apples per person per year as they do in Japan. Japanese consumption is only 5-6kg per person Italy and Germany more than 25kg per person. 2.     Workers― The average age of an apple farmer in Japan is 63 years old. Apple farming is not a popular profession among the younger generations. 3.     Growing System – The Japanese apple yield is only 21 tons/ha. In comparison in New Zealand and Holland the yield is 44 tons/ha. 4.     Marketing – The farmers income is very low because the apple farmer only gets 50yen for each apple and the supermarkets are selling the apples for 150yen.   Conclusion.   Consumption- Farmers are starting to introduce new varieties of apples to entice new customers. Ofcouse Pink Lady® is a one of the best new varieties.   Workers- If farmers are making more money then young people will be more interested in the profession. If Pink Lady® makes money younger generations will be encouraged to be involved.   Growing System- Japanese farmers are introducing new systems of high density planting, to target high quality and high yield. High density trees are easier to maintain so will gain a more efficient farm. Pink Lady® is very high yielding apple in Japan.　　   Marketing –Many farmers are trying to sell directly to the customer because they get higher prices than if they sell to the wholesale market. The farmers are starting to introduce branding such as Pink Lady® to leave a bigger impression on the customer.    We think Pink Lady® will create a significant benefit for Japanese growers and consumers. 　 We are proceeding with strong confidence that the opportunity for Pink Lady® is very good in Japan.