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Melons with added value: Procomel’s new commitment

NEWS spain PROCOMELfotos & logo Bio (2)

Also known as the “Grandfather of Melons” because it has existed since 1928, Procomel saw total production in 2013 of 21,000 tonnes, 17% more than the previous year. For 2014, their objectives are “to continue to grow steadily and create a melon with added value,” says Juan Peñalver, the president of Procomel. The idea is to grow melons that give some extra characteristics such as vitamin C, beta-carotene and antioxidants. The company from Murcia, known for its piel de sapo melon, has also revealed its intention of cultivating new formats such as a mini piel de sapo melon.
Some time ago they developed their own Super Baby range, which “despite being more expensive to produce,” says Juan Peñalver, “has done very well, especially in Europe.” These are melons whose main characteristic is their taste, with 16-17 degrees Brix. Sugar Baby Gold is particularly noteworthy, their jewel in the crown with an orange flesh and crunchy texture. In 2013, this small range increased its sales by 20%, “and the forecast for 2014 is better,” said Procomel’s president. “The range does better in Europe than in Spain,” he adds, “but when Spanish consumers try it they take to it.”  A few years ago, Procomel decided to grow melons outside Spain to supply them year-round with the same quality and varieties. Senegal and Brazil were the chosen destinations, and they hope to expand this production, which accounts for 15% of the total. “We will continue to expand in Africa since the conditions are very good,” says Juan Peñalver. “There are fewer pests and it is logistically closer.”  Procomel has also opted for an organic range. In 2013 they sold them for the first time, producing 2,000 tons. As for exports, their goal is to strengthen their main market, Europe, and to try to make headway in the UAE, “although it will be hard because ours is a very typically Spanish melon,” says Juan Peñalver.  Another goal for 2014 is to begin a new adventure with their “Grandpa’s Corner.” The Murcian firm wants to introduce new quality products, not just melons as until now, in order to generate appreciation for new horticultural products that stand out for their organoleptic qualities.

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Hortyfruta and Proexport “We Care, You Enjoy”

TOM spain HORTYFRUTA Francisco Gongora 01

Gearing up for the second year of their ‘We Care, You Enjoy’ campaign, Francisco Góngora, chairman of the Andalusian interprofessional organisation Hortyfruta, which together with Proexport is funding the second year of the campaign, commented: “We will be applying the same guidelines as last year, since we achieved our objectives. So for the moment, in view of the good results we are getting, we are continuing with the same action plan”. Góngora also confirmed a number of actions that are being implemented during this campaign, such as promotions in major supermarkets, signage on trolleys, promotion in health centres and radio and TV advertising. The campaign is a big item in Hortyfruta’s marketing plan and will give European consumers a better knowledge of fruit and vegetables from Almeria.
More European interprofessional collaboration
Together with this initiative, the inter-branch organisation for fruit and vegetables from the Andalusian province of Almeria is also pursuing other goals such as keeping in contact with similar organisations in order to achieve closer relations, both within Spain and in Europe, with the aim of working together and achieving real, effective interconnection, Góngora explained. “We are also going to develop or achieve closer ties with other organisations such as retailers, consumer associations, environmental associations and vegetarian and vegan organisations to find out exactly what their concerns and interests are, give them a clear idea of the work we do in protected crops, communicate the advances that have been made in agricultural practices and show them the benefits of our fruit and vegetables”, explained the Hortyfruta chairman, who added: “So we want to arrange visits to Andalusia with these organisations, as well as carrying out joint projects to tackle the problems we are all concerned about”.
Another important task that Hortyfruta will continue to undertake in 2014 is collecting data for the Census of Producers, a register that will include all the farmers and will be a useful tool for planning future strategic action.
Rural hygiene, now and in the future
Speaking of the challenges of rural hygiene and of raising the standards for products such as melons and watermelons, Francico Góngora pointed out that “Hygiene is indispensable for the quality and competitiveness of the sector. It means adapting the natural environment to achieve the best conditions for cultivation and production. For this reason, it is one of Hortyfruta’s objectives. Progress has been made but we are always working on it, developing proposals for the relevant authorities and obtaining their support for putting the proposals into practice. In 2014 we will also carry out a study to collect and organise all the information we need to analyse the initial situation concerning rural hygiene”.
Francisco Góngora proffered constructive criticism of the organisation he chairs, stating that it has unfinished business in “uniting us all and giving us the strength to address the needs of the sector. We are missing two farming organisations, but we are trying to talk to them and get them to join our great project, Hortyfruta”.
Góngora wants to remind all the farmers that “farmers are the basis of the interprofessional organisation. We have been representing the sector ever since the greenhouse production process began. That is why, when we had this catastrophic storm, we issued a press release in support of those who had been affected and, naturally, had a meeting with the regional agricultural Minister to request compensation for the farmers who had been hit, and she told us what action the Andalusian regional government was planning to take”.
Finally, the HortyFruta chairman emphasised that the Almería fruit and vegetable interprofessional organisation’s job is to “defend the interests of the sector and be the voice that carries our requests and demands to the authorities”.

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Keltivia the top French vegetable exporter

NEWS france KELTIVIA

Keltivia is proud to be the largest French exporter of fresh vegetables. “Our company is a distributor and exporter of vegetables grown on the Northern coast of the Brittany region of France” explains Christian Le Manach, the Keltivia sales manager. “We export 75,000 tons of vegetables every year, such as different varieties of cauliflower, tomatoes, artichoke, onion, shallots, etc”.  The mild climate of the Brittany coast is very favorable for vegetable production. The soils are fertile and the farmers are very experienced, having been in the business for many generations. Striving for innovations, the company has launched and exported several special varieties like coloured cauliflowers, mini-vegetables and organic products. “We sell cauliflowers of different colors, including yellow, purple, etc.”, says Christian.  Half of the volume is sold on the domestic market, the other half is exported all around Europe. The vegetables are traded under the “Prince de Bretagne” brand, which confirms their high quality.

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Kanzi® brand apples on the up again

NEWS apple KANZI beeld SWOK etiket 150x150mm

For the 2013-14 sales season, Kanzi® Europe launched a strong campaign in all major European markets in September/October 2013. The campaign contains all the trappings of diversified marketing, such as television spots, experience marketing, classic and online PR, and extensive POS activities. “Online and social media are also playing a very important role this year in the communication blend, as a fast-increasing number of Kanzi® consumers follow the Kanzi® apple via online media,” says Urs Luder, CEO of GKE N.V.
GKE reports that the first 3 months of the 2013-14 Kanzi® sales season have been very positive in all the target markets, with sales volumes running above the previous year’s level. Urs Luder attributes this to increasing consumer awareness of the Kanzi® brand and the intensive marketing campaign, which in January will reach a second peak with a broad package of TV and radio spots, the launch of an European-wide Kanzi® game contest and an array of social media competitions.
The 2014 sales season for Kanzi® will be extended through to the arrival of Kanzi® produced in the Southern Hemisphere. The trees in South Africa and New Zealand are starting to come into production with excellent qualities to be expected based on last year’s first commercial experience. “This is a major step forward in our strategy to supply the market year-round. Volumes from the Southern Hemisphere will now grow very rapidly over the next 3 years, which will enable us to expand markets further,” states Urs Luder.
Kanzi® North America will also feature some sales programmes this season. Volumes in U.S. orchards are rapidly coming into higher production for the 2014 harvest season. Urs Luder reports that “the earlier experience shows that U.S. consumers are very positive about the Kanzi® apple. We are very confident that the North American market will also become a pillar in our global strategy.”

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ClemenGold: citrus at its best

NEWS citrus CLEMENGOLD

Four years after its launch, the sweet and seedless easy peeler brand, ClemenGold, is enjoying an enviable position on the shelves of selected Canadian, European and Chinese retailers. Quality, innovation, strong partnerships and sustainability lie at the heart of this easy peeler brand.
Sun ripened and hand-picked by selected growers from South Africa and Spain, as well Australia, Peru and even Morocco; this bright orange citrus fruit, with its lovely peel, has a special taste profile with a well-balanced acid to sugar ratio. ClemenGold also has an excellent shelf life. “The core value of this easy peeler brand is ensuring that only consistently good eating quality fruit is marked and supplied as ClemenGold. To ensure this, quality inspections are conducted on three levels: at source, on arrival in the marketplace and in-store,” says Michelle Kruger, Global Brand Director at ClemenGold.
With the Citrus Black Spot issue in the EU breathing heavily down the neck of some ClemenGold supply countries, new markets are being explored, and securing the supply of good quality, ‘healthy’ fruit is crucial.
The ClemenGold brand has thus far only included the Nadorcott variety, and the original raison d’être for the trademark was to differentiate and protect the value of good quality for Nadorcott in the face of a growing volume of varied quality. But to stay ahead of the curve, businesses have to take risks and innovate. New varieties that fit the ClemenGold profile are currently being experimented with and some are already beyond the trial phase. The development of ClemenGold derived products, such as fresh juice, chocolate, preserves, sorbet, frozen yoghurt, and even ClemenGold wine, liqueur, gin and more; guarantees that the consumer is able to find ClemenGold branded products on the shelf all year round.
Sustainability is high on ClemenGold’s operating agenda, and they are involved in various CSR projects: ocean and water conservation, artistic projects, raising awareness for the honey bee quest, sporting events and children’s education in poorer communities. “ClemenGold staff members have actively participated in all these projects, because to tell a story, one has to ‘own’ some part of the experience,” says Kruger.

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Salvi develops new yellow kiwifruit

KIWI italy SALVI

Salvi Uniacoa, together with Zespri, has decided to develop a new variety of yellow kiwifruit called G3, which has the advantage of being more resistant to the fearsome PSA bacteria than its predecessors and will be planted in quarantine-free areas of Italy such as the Latina area. Marco Salvi, the managing director of Salvi and chairman of Fruitimpresse, believes that the worst is over: “In Italy, it seems to us that the kiwifruit bacterium has already gone through its most virulent stage and as growers, we are now more confident that we are learning to control it. Yellow varieties continue to be very popular both in Russia and Europe and in Asia and we think that G3 has good prospects there”. The Fruitimpresse chairman considers that the season will also be very positive for Italian green kiwifruit growers, as this year’s season kicked off with very high quality fruit (higher Brix and dry matter) and at earlier dates. Italy entered the international markets at the beginning of November 2013, as the New Zealand season ended early (by nearly a month) and Chile’s freezes left it very short of fruit (down by 60%).  This has been very positive for the profitability of the 400,000-tonne Italian kiwifruit crop this season, only slightly lower than last year’s (down by 5%), especially in the North, in Piedmont, Verona and Romagna.  Other European suppliers have also been short of fruit: Greece is down by 5% and France by 10%. Given this situation, “Italian kiwifruit will be the main supply during the European spring, as they can offer both quality and quantity over a longer timescale”, Marco Salvi stated.

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Special Fruit: fresh & ripe fruit from all over the world

BELGIUM ntw SPECIAL FRUIT avocado label

“Our company has been importing and re-exporting fruit and vegetables from all over the world,” reports Sarah Hellemans, Marketing and Communications head at the company Special Fruit (Belgium). “Our strong points are specialties such as berries, asparagus, exotic fruit, etc. For example, we also trade in different kinds of forgotten vegetables or exotics; there are many cookery programmes on T.V., which are a real source of inspiration to consumers who like new tastes.”The company often organizes tastings in supermarkets. “We were very successful with the Pom Wonderful programme – tasting and sales of pomegranate of this premium brand,” says Sarah. “Among our growing categories there are ready-to-eat avocados and mangos. We supply ready-to-eat fruit, which is praised by retailers and consumers alike”.
Special Fruit believes in trade as the best tool to empower people and overcome poverty. Their goals in this regard include following the BSCI – the Business Social Compliance Initiative and Fair Trading Practices and Principles.
The company owns 11,000 m2 of cold stores. Their clients are retailers, catering services and wholesalers from 28 countries in Europe, the Middle East and other parts of the world. All the products are available throughout the year, their distinctive feature being high quality. “We take great care with our Berry Fresh and Best Choice brand names, and are responsible for all the products we sell,” concludes Sarah.

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Devos increases its production and export capacities by 50%

BELGIUM ntw DEVOS GROUP

A new bicolour pear variety called “Queens Forelle” is starting to be produced by the family company, as part of their strategy to set themselves apart and create new product niches. 
With direct exports that started 5 years ago, the Devos group continues to increase its comprehensive production, storage and packing capacities. The total operational volume for 2012 included over 10,000 tons of its own produce and 20,000 of exports. Conference pears are the top export product, with over 15,000 tons, up from 12,000 tons last season. Then there are 7,000 tons of apples, 600 tons of leeks and 150 of strawberries. All the produce is GlobalG.A.P. and HACCP certified, with full traceability from the field to the customer. Devos is also in process of BRC certification. The family company has increased its ULO cold storage capacity to 8,000 tons in total, as well as doubling its grading capacity in its new packing station to 100 tons a day.Their main export destinations are Spain (including the Canary Islands), France, Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Russia, Eastern Europe and Germany are newer, growing markets too. 90% of their own produce is branded “Numero Uno”, which has now become exemplary in Conference pears and apples from Belgium. The Devos group also stands out for the Primo apple, which is its main apple product, locally bred in Belgium and exclusively sold by the Devos Group under the “Primo” brand. “We also have several other brands in order to find the best selection for each customer,” explains Pieter Devos.

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BFV’s Jonagold marketing project

BELGIUM ntw BFV

When the collaboration between the 3 Belgian auction houses on a new project to make Jonagold – the country’s main variety – no.1 in that market fell through, Belgische Fruitveiling (BFV) went ahead on its own. The auction house chose a limited selection of Jonagold mutations and divided them into 2 groups: a red group collectively known as Jonaplus and a classic two-tone TRUVAL group. The basic principle was to offer clients a product with uniform quality, colour and flavour, so BFV decided on a targeted, client-oriented approach to the market. Not only the product (the different mutations) but also a uniform quality level would be matched to the market segment being supplied. Any fruit that did not meet the quality requirements would be rejected out of hand. The segmentation has a double purpose: to adopt a client-oriented approach and to achieve better prices for the growers. It will be accompanied by cost-cutting and by optimizing the sorting and loading operations, which will be systematically geared to improving the match between supply and demand depending on the level of stocks. The choice of mutations is based on a realistic definition of BFV’s surface area and on their bright prospects, as the future depends on them. The new red mutations – Marnica, Vivista and Boerekamp – make up the ‘Jonaplus’ brand. The red and green two-colour mutations – King, Novajo and Jonagold 2000 – make up the TRUVALClassic group. The BFV auction house is convinced that considering all Jonagold’s positive features, this approach can improve its marketing. Each of the two groups has its own specific, recognizable parameters, which are not confined to the choice of mutations but also include specifications about how each module is grown, stored, sorted and packed. BFV has also designed new packaging that makes the two modules easy to identify. In addition, each pack bears a QR (Quick Response) code that links smartphones directly to the website created specifically for that module. The websites provide information on the product and the brand philosophy.

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Nicolai Fruit: further expansion for premium quality

Nicolai

The Belgian exporter is celebrating its 20 years in the trade by increasing both its export and import activities. Thanks to strong ties with growers and cooperatives, the company keeps expanding its offer to customers in soft fruits, top fruit and vegetables. “Our clients are retailers, importers and wholesalers and they count on us to supply not only fresh produce but also tailor-made and cost-saving solutions, innovative ideas and new products. Thanks to our experience, we help our clients retain their edge against their competitors, while we keep up our range of premium Belgian produce to keep sales volumes growing year-on-year”, explains Commercial Manager Johan de Gendt. Originally focused on the Nordic markets, Nicolai Fruit has broadened its portfolio substantially in the major European markets like UK, Germany, Ireland and Spain and more recently also in Russia and Kazakhstan.  “We are also looking into new destinations in the Middle East, thanks to greatly improved logistic options from Belgium to that area”, says Johan. As to its star products, Johan states: “Our sweet and aromatic Belgian strawberries are of course still hugely popular, while our conference pears, chicory and white asparagus are really great products in my opinion. However, what I think has been vastly underrated in Europe in recent years is the quality of Belgian sweet cherries, so we will put some extra energy into marketing these cherries in 2014!”Apart from its growing export branch, Nicolai fruit is also expanding its offer of imported produce in order to supply their clients with a wider array of non-Belgian products. “Some clients might not always need big volumes of Southern-European or Southern-Hemisphere produce. Thanks to Belgium’s central location, we try to serve as a provider and hub for them for these items”, concludes Johan. The company complies with HACCP, IFS Higher Level, Belgian Food Safety Autocontrol and GlobalGAP protocols since 2006.