Allfresch is a group of independent companies in partnership with growers sourcing fresh produce from all over the world for distribution to clients throughout the UK, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
With a year-round supply of produce, the Allfresch Group of companies are able to supply retail, food service, wholesale, manufacturing and juicing outlets.
One of the companies within the group, Intafresh, was recently registered as a Chinese import company in China and Hong Kong, supplying distributors throughout mainland China but Allfresch has also been supplying a number of importers directly in China with bananas and Citrus in 2014.
"We have a good customer base here and we are not trying to compete with them, we are very small in terms of scale but I would like to control part of what we are doing here to understand the market better," explains Andrew Sperling, MD Allfresch. "Really the whole point of it is to be closer to the market and to understand first hand what is happening in the domestic production, prices and everything that has an influence on the market and unless we have our own company here that is not possible."
The main products imported in to China are bananas and citrus, "We are trying to develop the lime market as we have a joint venture in Mexico with a lime producer. Our strongest products are bananas and limes, these are the first products which we vertically integrated into the business, we work with a lot of exporters and growers on various products, but these remain our strongest products as we have great relationships with our joint venture partners," said Sperling.
In addition to China Allfresch also supply bananas to Japan, "The reason for being here at Asia Fruit Logistica is to develop other Asian markets, such as Malaysia and Singapore, we have also had a number of enquiries from the Middle East which was one of the areas on our agenda and would like to develop our business there."
Sperling goes on to say that when exporting to China they tend to deal with companies which already have a good reputation. Also Allfresch has been active in China for the last 8-9 years and already has a good relationship with some companies through working together on an export level and as these company's import businesses have grown it has given Allfresch an opportunity to supply them.
Sperling admits that the supply chain can be problematic, especially for bananas which are highly perishable and have already been on the water for up to 40 days so they are always looking for ways to improve the post harvest and logistic elements to enhance quality on arrival.
For more information:
Andrew Sperling
Allfresh Group
Tel: +44 1952 460 608
Email: andrew@allfreschgroup.com
www.allfreschgroup.com