Fresh food investment set to soar

Eduardo Frei Ruiz Tagle, former president of Chile, noted that since China initiated Chile Week in 2014, trade between the two countries has been growing steadily, to nearly $34.6 billion in 2017.

For cherries alone, Chile has been flying 150,000 metric tons of the fruit to China with 60 exclusive flights this year.

"We used to believe fresh foods are the most time and location-sensitive goods that could be only purchased from brick-and-mortar stores nearby. Yet, the soaring market for fresh food e-commerce is not only about boosting the quantity, but also bringing as much of the world to the plate of every Chinese as possible," said Lu Pengqi, vice-president of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade.

Launched in May, Win Chan is a data-driven global sourcing platform dedicated exclusively to fresh produce. It has combined the resources from several investment arms of Alibaba, ranging from cold chain logistics, to online and offline retail like Tmall and supermarket chain RT Mart.

In 2017, China's fresh produce e-commerce reached close to 145 billion yuan ($20.87 billion) in transaction value, up 58.6 percent year-on-year, according to data company Analysys.