How Deep is the Water in Imported Dried Fruits?

When browsing dramas late at night, you tear open a packet of Thai mango dried fruits, and your weekend picnic bag is stuffed with Turkish fig dried fruits... Imported dried fruits have long become the "sweet partner" in our lives. But do you know? Behind these delicious treats that have traveled across the oceans, there is an agency industry chain that 90% of consumers don't understand. Today, we will uncover the mystery of the imported dried fruit agency.

Mr. Zhang recently acted as an agent for a batch of Chilean cherry dried fruits and thought it would only require simple customs declaration, but got stuck at the quarantine license stage. In fact, imported dried fruit agents must pass three levels:

• Qualification Level: A food business license, import and export rights, and registration and filing of overseas manufacturers are all indispensable
• Inspection Level: 18 mandatory inspection items such as sulfur dioxide residue and microbial indicators
• Label Level: The Chinese label needs to include 9 elements such as the origin country, the agent (such as Zhongshitong), and storage conditions

Ms. Li's e-commerce store sold 2,000 packs of American cranberry dried fruits last month. She frankly said: "The cost of my direct import is 15% higher than finding an agent." The core advantages of professional agents lie in:

• The bargaining power of bulk purchasing can reduce the raw material cost by 30%
• A stable cold chain warehousing system ensures that the water content of the product is ≤8%
• Familiarity with national standards (such as the EU No 396/2005 pesticide residue regulations)

When you see "imported dried fruits" on the shelf, it is recommended to do three things first:

• Scan the QR code to check the customs import health certificate
• Observe whether the packaging has clear information such as "Agent: Zhongshitong"
• Compare the prices of similar products (normally, agented dried fruits are 40-60% more expensive than domestic ones)

With the health snack market size exceeding 200 billion yuan, the freeze-drying technology has enabled more niche fruits (such as Mexican prickly pear) to enter the domestic market. If you are considering entering this field:

• Focus on emerging markets such as Middle Eastern dates and African baobab dried fruits
• Pay attention to the tariff reduction of dried fruits from RCEP member countries in the policy dividend area
• Pay attention to the characteristics of FD freeze-drying that retains 98% of the nutrition in the technology forefront