SYDNEY, June 24 (Xinhua) -- In an effort to streamline the trade of mangoes in the Asia-Pacific region, Australian authorities revealed on Monday they are developing a multilingual manual to create a common language of communicating with consumers and retailers about produce.
Government and Industry representatives are developing the manual in six languages, so that mango export countries across Southeast Asia and the Pacific can communicate with each other and with retailers and consumers in China.
"The manual is about documenting subjective and objective qualities of mangoes that we then have a common language for how we describe the product," mango agribusiness research program leader Robin Roberts from Griffith University told Xinhua.
"If we all describe it the same, then those at the other end who are purchasing the product -- customers, retailers, wholesalers, distributors, and consumers purchasing the product will then have a common story."
The manual is being developed as part of the Mango Agribusiness Research Program, an initiative led by Griffith University, which also seeks to better understand consumer markets in China.
Roberts said that one of the things her research has shown is an emerging trend among Chinese consumers for purchasing produce online rather than in stores.
One of the studies was undertook for one year to study JD.com and Tmall and from that 490,000 sales of mangoes from across the region were recorded, Roberts said.
They were able to understand the purchase drivers such as country of origin, the type of mango, the price and the delivery offer.
Roberts said that Chinese buyers preferred consuming a lot of fruit throughout the summer as well as during holidays such as the Spring Festival and Dragon Boat Festival when sales boomed.
The manual is currently being translated and according to Roberts is expected to begin being used before the end of this year.
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