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Article: A business of spice: as New Zealand's Asian populations grow, so too do the businesses servicing their specialist needs. Here, Kaveri Mittra looks into the highly competitive world of the Asian food markets. (Notebook).(Asian supermarkets)
- Article from:
- NZ Business
- Article date:
- September 1, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Adrenalin Publishing Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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New Zealand's Asian population is growing rapidly. In 1996 it stood at 186,000 and is now expected to grow to 370,000 by 2016.
This is a big market, and in response specialist Asian supermarkets and grocery chains have sprung up almost everywhere.
As to what the industry sector is worth--the best ballpark figure put it at around $60-$70 million a year excluding the sales of the Asian restaurants and takeaways.
"There are big importers who also run wholesale and retail businesses with annual sales of $6 to $10 million," says a veteran in the trade, who doesn't want to be named. For the smaller operators, the figures vary between $500,000 to $1 ...