Lexportia Bio is planning to sell organic fruits and vegetables on the European market. The company is already selling ‘normal’ organic products and are now looking for markets for organic produce that looks ‘different’. “These fruits and vegetables are not beautiful in appearance, but are fit for consumption. We think it is a shame that so much produce has to be thrown away just because their appearance does not meet requirements. More and more it is about what they look like, instead of how they taste. We would like to change that. That is why Lexportia Bio is looking for European partners to start a new organic project,” salesman Nils Angelike says.
Lexportia Bio from Almería was founded in May 2015 by Amalia Torres Carmona and Luis del Olmo Llanos. Their main activity is the export of organic products from Spain to Europe. Besides their own production in Castilla-La Mancha they cooperate with local growers and smaller companies in order to offer their clients products year-round. “Many products are sorted out in advance because they do not look good enough,” Nils Angelike explains. “At the end of the season the number of products that cannot be sold based purely on aesthetic reasons makes up 10% of the complete harvest.”
The team of Lexportia Bio.
Curved, too big, too small
Lexportia Bio is now planning to find new markets and buyers for these kinds of vegetables in Europe. “It is important to say that in no way does it concern bad or even spoiled products. It concerns qualitatively equal trade with an optical ‘defect’: a curved cucumber, an orange that is too big or too small, a two-coloured bell pepper, things you just cannot find in many supermarkets,” says Nils.
“We are convinced that there is a market for these products in Europe,” Nils emphasises. “You often hear of similar plans and ideas, that make it clear to us that end customers are interested in so-called ‘ugly veggies’. A different argument, for example, could be the selling price, but mostly it is the idea that less food products get thrown away. That this plan can be successful is clear from the examples of France and Britain.
Lexportia is currently preparing the project by looking for contacts in the different target countries. The company is interested in partners who can help bring the idea from Spain to Europe. Nils: “A curved product is not a bad product. We will make sure that the fruits and vegetables arrive in Europe in good condition. The requirements and conditions are the same as for a normal organic product. The expectations should be very high.”
For more information:
Nils Angelike
Lexportia S.L.
Av. de la Innovación, 15
Edificio 'Pitágoras'
Autovía del Mediterráneo (A-7)
Salida 460, 04131 Almería - Spanje
www.lexportiabio.com