I just returned from a 12-day trip to China. I visited Beijing and Shanghai to report on the exports of almonds, walnuts, pistachios, and raisins from California. Trust me, I saw a lot of product in every grocery store that I walked into.

I met with Jessie with PR Consultants Ltd. in Beijing and we toured many grocery outlets to see Almond Board of California promotions and almond displays. Almonds exports to China are huge—142 million pounds so far this year ( as of today). Just four years ago, the industry only shipped 50 million pounds to China.

I visited with Daniel Chan and his colleagues Irene Zhou and Shirley Jiang, all with PR Consultants Ltd. in Shanghai. We met in City Shop a downtown grocery store catering to a strong middle class shoppers. We spoke about the strong almond sales and raisin sales throughout China.

I also met with Paramount Farm’s Anita Lam, in Shanghai. We talked about how the company’s Wonderful brand pistachios are selling briskly. Paramount Farms is responsible of changing a tradition in China, who normally bleached their pistachios turning them a very bright white, while altering there taste. Paramount is convincing the industry that natural roasted and salted pistachios taste better, and are better for Chinese consumers. It’s taking off in China!

Thanks to everyone who help arrange my meeting and were so dedicated to my success in China!