Asian Mea Leverages Digital Trade Financing for Sourcing, Promotion & Distribution

The prevalence of home cooking has contributed to the escalating growth of frozen meat and grocery businesses. Specialised in trading free-range Qingyuan chicken with geographical indication of China certificate & HACCP certification, Asian Mea also experienced a surge in sales volume. The company hopes to expand by broadening their product portfolio to include different types of meat and frozen food.

The company has become GS1 HK’s ezTRADE member since 2019 to supply hormones-free and antibiotics-free frozen chickens to supermarkets such as AEON & Wellcome, processing an average of 3,000 purchase orders and invoices per month on the platform. To support expansion, Asian Mea tried to apply for SME loan from banks, but turned futile due to the lack of property or asset mortgage, complicated document requirements and lengthy application processes. 

Solutions

Learning that GS1 HK has partnered with a local bank to provide digital trade finance service in June 2021, Asian Mea decided to apply for the it. Using data from ezTRADE e-commerce platform, the service aims to simplify loan application and approval process. Asian Mea not only obtained the fund successfully in just 1 month, but also enjoyed preferential interest rates, flexible repayment terms and other loan offers.

ezTRADE is a B2B trade platform used by close to 2,000 companies in China and Hong Kong. It can be served as a trusted source of data platform for companies to keep a plethora of electronic transaction records with different trading parties, including electronic orders, invoices and remittance advices etc. Upon client’s authorization, banks can access comprehensive, detailed business transaction data of the client to accelerate assessment and approval process. The service can be life-saving to SMEs that were hit hard by the pandemic trying to get back on their feet. At the same time, banks can trustingly evaluate the financial health and needs of the applicant.

With ezTRADE’s services spanning across multiple industries such as retail, FMCG, healthcare, cosmetics & beauty products, food services and so on, the bank usually customise different financing policies according to the operation models and sectors in order to streamline the loan application processes and assessment time. Asian Mea acknowledges that the service can greatly increase the opportunities for SMEs to obtain financing.

After receiving the capital, Asian Mea is able to source high quality food products across the globe and vigorously promote their “Pure Qingyuan” brand, and expand its distribution network to more retail outlets

Benefits

Using the real-time and trusted data on ezTRADE, Asian Mea and stakeholders enjoys:

• Asian Mea can enjoy preferential interest rates, streamlined application, lower repayment cost and faster procurement of fund;
• Banks can evaluate the financial health and needs of the applicants accurately and effectively, accelerating the loan approval process and delivering better services;
• Support the development of digital trade finance ecosystem, foster fintech growth and promote financial inclusion.

“Instead of the old way that requires financial statement, our company used digital transaction data on ezTRADE for credit assessment. This greatly facilitated our loan application process as time required is shortened and processes are streamlined, so we can obtain financing faster and more conveniently. I hope that more financial institutions can join hands, so SMEs can get the timely loan to navigate through adversity and thrive.”

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About Company

Founded in 2018, Asian Mea is a frozen food trading company mainly importing free-range Qingyuan chicken from Guangdong. The company has built stable partnerships with Guangdong suppliers, selling products mostly to supermarkets, wet markets and restaurants.