WHEN Chinese President Xi Jinping stepped on to the airport tarmac in Australia’s smallest state Tasmania he was presented with a purple-colored fluffy toy called Bobbie.

    The welcome gift he received, stuffed with lavender and wheat, was not in the shape of the southern island’s iconic Tasmanian devil, but instead a teddy bear that has captured the hearts and wallets of Chinese consumers.

    Bobbie has been an overwhelming success in China with a remarkable following — the bear’s success has helped creator Robert Ravens, the owner of the lavender farm in northeast Tasmania, secure an inaugural Australia-China business award for entrepreneurship.

    Tasmania has long had the nation’s weakest economy, but it is hoping to boost its fortunes by using its natural resources to attract an affluent Asian market looking for quality products.

    When Ravens bought the Bridestowe Lavender Estate in 2007, his first goal was to return it to the peak farming condition it was in several decades ago.

    He was also keen to boost the tourism potential of the almost 100-year-old farm, which uses lavender descendent from a crop specially harvested from the French Alps in 1919 and brought to Tasmania in 1921 by an English family.

    “We looked to create new products which would attract young visitors, and that came through food,” Ravens said.

    An early product, lavender ice cream, started to attract Chinese tourists to the 105-hectare farm, an hour’s drive from Tasmania’s second-largest city Launceston.

    But it was through the bear that Ravens, a former chief executive of a leading chemicals firm, struck a winning formula.

    Even the name was designed to attract Chinese consumers, Ravens said. “You can say Bobbie phonetically in Cantonese and Mandarin.”

    Ravens courted the celebrity market and when a Chinese model posted a picture of herself with the bear online last year, demand for the furry creature — which doubles as a heat pack — reached stratospheric levels.

    The farm had to limit sales to one per customer, temporarily halt online shopping and even contend with fake toys piggy-backing on Bobbie’s fame.

    Catering to the demands of the rising Asian middle class is key for a state economy left behind during the unprecedented mining investment boom on the mainland that helped Australia avoid recession for more than two decades.

    Tasmania was hurt by the boom’s side effects such as the strong local currency, which squeezed the agriculture, tourism and manufacturing industries.

    But what it does have is an abundance of natural resources such as fresh water, fertile soil and stunning landscapes.

    (SD-Agencies)