Grossmarkt Hannover in pictures

There are around 30 importers, wholesalers and growers at the Wholesale market in Hannover, who are almost all specialised in potatoes, fruit and vegetables. Hannover is the capital of the state Lower Saxony. Editors Gertrude Snoei and Izak Heijboer visited the Hannover wholesale market on the night of August 28th and were received with hospitality and friendliness from the traders, many of whom were German. For over 55 years the wholesale market on the Tönniesberg has been opening at 3 in the morning from Monday to Friday. The surface is 230,000 square metres.

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Calm due to the holiday
The catchment area stretches over 100 kilometres around the market. The assortment consists of growers' local products and there is also a wide variety of imported products such as exotics and herbs. We arrived at the start of the top fruit season, so there was a lot of domestic produce. There was also a wide range of open ground vegetables of German origin and there was a large supply of tomatoes, grapes and stonefruit laid out. The holidays were not yet over last week, so the trade was calm. The traders expect it to pick up this week now that they are over. An important characteristic of German customers is that they look for quality products. They have a preference for domestic fruits and vegetables, but imported products are also appreciated.

Good atmosphere
The atmosphere on the market is good. The stall holders interact in a friendly manner, but there is certainly competition. As someone put it: "We're sometimes like a big family, but we're still competitors." A lot of stall holders have had a place on the market for a long time. Not many new ones join. Some have even been there since it opened in 1958.

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Conversations revealed that traders are most worried about the power of retailers. The pressure from supermarkets increased every year. Supermarkets are buying more and more directly from abroad and regularly offer products more cheaply. Yet salespeople say that they define themselves with quality. Many of the stallholders praised Dutch and Belgian quality products. Some even get more than half of their products from here. They also believe it is good that the logistics are organised so well. If they order something today, they will often have it tomorrow.

Where in the past many wholesalers had their own speciality, they now all have a wide supply, as they don't want to say 'no'. Growers, on the other hand, are specialised in one or a few products. Many traders have a set customers base and the customers are quite faithful. Buyer stop at 'their' trader, load up their products and leave. There are a lot of different buyers, including market traders, shops and small supermarkets. Gastronomics, large kitchens and other catering companies are also served here. After buying fruit and vegetables they can go to Metro, just behind the wholesale market.

www.grossmarkt-hannover.de

Authors: Gertrude Snoei and Izak Heijboer
Copyright: www.agf.nl