Ginseng for China

King Country Ginseng growers Maraeroa C Incorporation are working with a Shanghai-based distributor to market their crops in China under the label Pureora NZ Ginseng. “We’re probably the only grower of simulated-wild, natural, organically grown ginseng in New Zealand,” Maraeroa C chief executive Glen Katu said. “China is the market for ginseng,” Katu said. “Most of the ginseng produced in the world is farmed or grown in fields under shade cloths because so little of it grows in the wild anymore. What we’re growing is organic and all natural.” At the present rate, Maraeroa C can plant about 5ha a year for the next 1 years, but with investment, they’re aiming for 4ha year from 213. “Our ginseng plants have very high levels of antioxidants, which they produce to protect themselves from the ultraviolet radiation; that’s our big point of difference when we market our ginseng in China.”