Jessica Rudd has joined Australian Organic as a trade ambassador and facilitator between Australian Certified Organic clients and Chinese buyers.
Rudd, a columnist, author, lawyer, PR consultant, and daughter of Kevin Rudd, has lived in Beijing for the past five years and says Chinese consumers are increasingly drawn to clean, green, safe imports.
"The Chinese government is doing a great job of lifting people out of poverty and consumers spend big on their children," Rudd says.
"I'm honoured to be invited to use my China story to help Australian businesses, big and small, taking advantage of the potential for growth into that market. I want to see my Chinese mates gaining access to the fabulous range of high-quality products our country has to offer."
Australian Organic commercial manager, Joanne Barber, says organics is big business in China. China also has 1.3 billion people, she notes, and one certified organic home delivery company there has a customer base of over 400,000 families.
"The biggest barriers to exporting to China are the language and cultural differences. Jessica has a good grasp of Mandarin, is married to a Chinese-Australian and has spent time living in China, and has some great, practical ideas that will help," Barber says.
Australian Organic has also declared October to be Australian Organic Awareness Month. During this month the certifier will be encouraging consumers to try organic products.
To help support the campaign, it has recruited ambassadors including celebrity chef Pete Evans, author and owner of Divine Beauty Therese Kerr, the beauty chef Carla Oates and the healthy chef, Teresa Cutter.
