29 - 09 - 2009 - APH Group delivers mega order to China

Joure, September 29th, 2009         
   

PRESS RELEASE


APH Group delivers mega order to China

An order of more then € 10 million! That is the size of the order which APH Group out of Joure, The Netherlands, has signed with and delivered to the Chinese company Xisen Potato Industy Group Ltd. The order includes the delivery of a complete package for soil and potato machinery for the growth of 7,000 hectares of potatoes. Since a few years, APH Group is in contact with the company Xisen. In 2008 APH Group delivered the first Koning mini tuber planters and Dewulf 2-row bunker harvesters to Xisen. In 2009 the cooperation continued with the delivery of a.o. Kuhn power harrows and fertilizer spreaders, Hardi trailed sprayers, 6-row Cramer potato planters, ridgers and haulm toppers of Baselier, Bijlsma Hercules grading and intake lines, and more Dewulf harvesters. In total more then 130 containers (40 ft) have been shipped from Rotterdam to Tianjin Seaport. A small investigation showed that this is the biggest single deal in potato machine ever made in the world. 

Xisen Potato Industry Group Ltd.
Xisen is growing this year already 7,000 hectares of potatoes and wants to increase every year with the same amount until a total of 40,000 hectares. The company wants to have a total storage capacity of 400,000 tons of potatoes. The potatoes are grown in the Shangdu region in the province of Inner Mongolia. Most soil is sandy and the average altitude is about 1,500 meters above sea level. To grow potatoes in this area, irrigation is needed. Xisen invested therefore in centre pivots, each with a working area of 30 - 50 hectares. The average yield of commercial potatoes is around 35 tons per hectare. Mini tubers form the starting point for the seed potato cultivation at Xisen.

APH Group
APH Group is active in marketing, sales and after sale service for the manufacturers Cramer, Koning, Baselier, Dewulf, Bijlsma Hercules, Omnivent, and Manter. The company is active in approximately 30 countries in Central and Eastern Europe, the former CIS countries, Asia and Africa. APH Group was established in 1997 by Wytse Oosterbaan. APH Group is represented in China by a daughter company which APH established together with Omnivent Techniek BV from Zeewolde, The Netherlands. This daughter company, with an office in Beijing and managed by Johan Kikstra, employs 8 service engineers and sales managers. Besides the earlier mentioned brands, APH Group also represents in China the machines of Kuhn and Hardi. To guarantee adequate service, APH Group has fully equipped service cars and their own spare part stock in China.

Guaranteed service
Service is highly valued by APH Group. That is exactly why the spare parts stock in China is extended and also why APH Group continuously has 5 service engineers available for any emergency of their clients. This resulted in an excellent cooperation with the engineers of Xisen and was also one of the important reasons why Xisen chose APH Group as their partner.