“We do not speculate: our buyers are also our end customers”

Vegetable Market Place (VMP) has existed for fifteen years now. The company started as the export company for growers association Skyline. In 2007 former gardener Gert Middelburg started up again with VMP. In 2010 his son Lennart joined the company and the commercial team was expanded today with Tom Lievaart. The company did not take the Russian boycott lying down, set out a new course and found new buyers all over Europe. “We have a nice mix of customers. We have been working for ten to fifteen years with many of them and that indicates that we have good customers, but also that we provide a good service along with our growers,” Gert Middelburg says.

Gert’s – “I have actually grown everything” – a background gardening comes in handy. “You have an in with growers and you do not have to ask questions about, for example, quality and availability. I am very happy that I have been a gardener, but also that I was able to make the decision to stop and working in trade is a nice addition to gardening. Due to customer demand we have gradually started selling several other products besides vegetables, and we are currently focused on selling the full spectrum of fruits and vegetables.” Nowadays a lot of mixed cargo is shipped.

“When Russia implemented the boycott we had to put up with a lot, because we had quite a number of Russian customers. But we actively went on the market and found customers in, for example, Iceland, Ireland, Sweden and Germany. Especially the export to these countries complemented our trade. In the past I imported a large volume of Turkish fruit. That went well during the first years, but later many importers entered this market and it became less interesting. But regular customers always know where to find me for the first Turkish citrus in September.”

Greenhouse vegetables are the most important product for VMP. The Dutch company provides British supermarkets, for example, of Dutch tomatoes through, among other things, APS Salads. APS took over companies Baarda and Wight Salads last year, which brought the area of high-tech tomato cultivation to 60 hectares. “But in totality the British greenhouse vegetable area remains fairly stable. A few big, innovative growers are expanding, but smaller growers drop out. In the United Kingdom, people are more conservative when it comes to investing that in the Netherlands,” Gert explains.

“British consumers prefer locally grown products, but British tomato cultivation has been stable for years and people are nowhere near self-supporting, which means the supply from the Netherlands remains very important. We have been working with the same growers for years, from whom we buy either the complete stock or part of the stock,” explains Gert. “In the past APS carried more than ten types of tomatoes, but a few years ago the strategic choice was made to focus on just four or five types, and that is paying off.”

“We have good contacts within growers associations. They also know that if VMP buys, the batch is off the market and they will not see any more trade. Our customers are also our end customers. We are not going to speculate and only buy if we can sell. Last winter we imported a lot of trade ourselves from, for example, Spain, Morocco, Perpignan, France and Italy, and we are now ready for the Dutch greenhouse vegetable season,” Gert says. “We have contracted out our offloading activities to our neighbour Europe Retail Packing, with whom we have a good relationship based on trust. Last summer they packed a lot of products for us.”

“I feel secure about the future of VMP. The aim for the coming years is to grow with our clients and to provide them with daily fresh, quality products, accompanied by high service with a personal touch. Because of the growth of our activities in, for example, Ireland and Germany, we needed a commercial force and I have full confidence that Tom Lievaart, with his experience in trade, will find his feet with us as well,” Gert concludes.