The avocado industry has to tell its story if it wants to break into the China market.

The New Zealand avocado industry needs to sell its story to consumers if it is to gain a foothold in the China market, according to Beijing based investment fund manager David Mahon.

That meant establishing in these consumers minds exactly what they were eating, he said.

Mahon made the comments in response to advice about breaking into this market from New Zealand Avocado chief executive Jen Scoular at an event in Tauranga hosted by Zespri and Export New Zealand.

Mahon sits on Zespri's China Advisory Board and its three members outlined the challenges of doing business in this country.

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Mahon said avocados had an unfortunate beginning in China several years ago when an early first shipment was hard and unpalatable.

"The first impression in the market was 'what is this rubbish that foreigners eat'?"

Despite that hiccup, there was potentially a marvellous market for the fruit in China, he said. It had huge health and nutritional benefits and avocados had a story that was better than kiwifruit.

"It's a country where food and medicine are combined," he said.

Exporters must also tell consumers how to eat the fruit and if that was done well, there was a very strong market for avocado in China.

All the steps required to navigate Chinese bureaucracy were readily available without the need for expensive law firms.

Once the protocols were in place, just sending the product to the market was a mistake. The story of the product had to be told and the timing of that story along with when the product entered the market were critical, he said.

Attention to detail once the product was in the marketplace was also important, Zespri's China and Hong Kong country manager, Lewis Pan said.

That included how to ripen the fruit for eating given it had a short consumption window, managing the logistics and establishing a good ripening facility so it reached consumers ready to eat.

"Just because the market access is open, we can sell to China and profit from it; you have to do the detail."

Ex-World Bank economist Dr Anning Wei said Mexico had established itself in China as a supplier of avocado and he suggested the restaurant service could be a good market for New Zealand avocados.