Fruit Drinks Get Juiced up

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, June 13, 2003

Fruit Drinks Get Juiced up

The latest round of technological upgrades in fruit juice processing will push the market ahead by leaps and bounds and help more locally produced juice to be sold abroad, industrial experts predict.

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The latest round of technological upgrades in fruit juice processing will push the market ahead by leaps and bounds and help more locally produced juice to be sold abroad, industrial experts predict.

One of the largest local fruit juice producers, the Huiyuan Beverage and Food Co, announced last week it had introduced a new production line to churn out fresher tasting drinks.

Following Huiyuan's move, other big juice makers said they had stepped up their technology levels.

Tang Tianshu, chairman of the China Beverage Industry Association, said the new wave of technological upgrades will smash the bottleneck being caused in the industry by a lack of true tasting fruit drinks.

The industry is viewed as having a huge potential as consuming fruit is gaining popularity among Chinese people in the pursuit of a more healthier life.

But to date, fruit beverages have not been big sellers due to their not-good-enough tastes.

Liu Yan, a young female employee in Beijing, said: "In the past when I've tried watermelon juice, it didn't taste anything like it should have."

Huiyuan President Zhu Xinli said the new technology will solve its existing taste problems.

Under the old technology, the sterilization process for the fruit was conducted at high temperatures, making the juice largely tasteless.

Zhu says the new method means sterilization can occur at much lower temperatures and can produce 36,000 bottles of juice per hour.

He said he expected the new technology would allow the company to capture a greater market share.

Huiyuan already controls about a quarter of the local fruit juice market.

Tang believes the technological upgrading by producers will help the industry develop faster.

The fruit juice industry's output is predicted to increase by 50 per cent this year, Tang said.

Output increased by 45 per cent last year to 2.1 million tons.

The industry will expand rapidly as it is still only in its infancy stage, Tang said.

The per capita consumption of fruit juice in China is about one-70th of that in the United States.

Tang believes the technological improvements will transform the industry into a pillar of the beverage sector and drive up juice exports.

"The better tasting juice after the technological improvements will allow China's products to establish a foothold in the world market," Tang said.

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