The originally Zeeuwse brothers Erik and Wim Waterman are the third generation of their family in the onion trade. At the end of the 90's they left Zeeland for Emmeloord. Although this was a shot in the dark back then, they are now happy with their choice. In 2003 the new building was realised at the current location. In 2012 the second hall followed, and new office space was added last year.
Now the brothers are about to build a third hall of 7,000 m2 of drying space and expedition. All in all the move to Emmeloord has been a good choice. "The number of processing companies is of a different order to the south west, whilst we're located in the largest onion cultivation area in the Netherlands. We have space and good quality growers around us here," says Wim.
Wim and Erik Waterman
Switch to retail
Although Waterman caused a craze in bulk in the past, the switch was made to retail a few years ago. A third of the volume is now being supplied to retail. "We were really ready to serve the retail segment. We can make the difference with our quality there."
"The margins towards the supermarkets aren't large, but it gives continuity. We have grown into the retail and we're proud of it. It's a market with high demands, but we want to face that challenge. We also started selecting and importing more onions ourselves for our clients, especially yellow onions from New Zealand and red onions from Egypt."
New Zealand onions
"Bulk is still our main body, but we were at our production capacity there. Now we take up every packaging challenge. We turn over production in block here, like in shifts. We are reasonably unique in the onion world in this," says Wim. "We sort in runs and package at an order level. In the winter months in particular this means that we can guide perfectly and can sort, package and supply 'just in time'."
Intensive care
"Our production facility has been extended considerably in recent years, but this was at the cost of our drying space, which we rented elsewhere with all its adverse effect. With the next phase of the new building we want to straighten this out, as we believe it is desirable to stay close to the 'intensive care' of the storage," says Wim.
"The quality of the Dutch onions is very varied and this is why we are on top of it. Last year we had a positive outlier, but throughout the years the fungus and bacteria have increased and storage ability and skin tightness have reduced. There is also a big difference between onions from loose storage and box storage."
"We have seen the quality of Dutch onions decrease in recent years. The challenge is dealing with the weather extremes. This year the tarra percentage is 5% higher than last year, but there is still a big difference between the quality of the different growers. You see growers who are able to supply a gorgeous quality of onions, even in a difficult year like this. This is a reason for us to work with a number of growers focused on a certain sales market. Especially in a year with difficult quality such as this you can see that there is a bonus for the grower. Sometimes that means the difference between sales or no sales," says Wim.
Wim with a carved 'poolbokaal', which he received from his growers
Collaboration
As a service product for his customers Waterman also supplies other products and logistics, these are also involved with suppliers close by. "We don't have the intention of sorting them ourselves. We prefer to work with colleagues, rather than work against them. Everyone has their speciality. We do see that the demand for organic onions is rising and our work in this is increasing," says Wim. "We also see more collaboration within the onion sector. People are realising that you get further by working together. The younger generations are also more open to this."
The development concerning optical sorting is being followed with interest by Waterman. "There are various machines running with differing success, but there isn't a suitable machine at hand for Dutch onions at the moment. I hope a machine like this will be produced and can make the difference. We collaborate with our suppliers on developing it. When there is a good optical sorting machine, I would leave the existing lines intact at first and when suitability has been proven, expand with the optical sorting line."
Involvement in cultivation projects abroad
Waterman takes care of the full sales himself with Europe, beside this the company also works with a number of exporters for sales on other continents. "We have a large number and variety of customers in total, with various volumes," says Wim. "Together they reached sales of over 120,000 tonnes of onion in the season 2014/2015. This makes us one of the most prominent onion sorting and packaging companies in the Dutch onion sector. We are also involved in a number of cultivation projects, that we will foresee of our knowledge and advice. Some people are afraid to teach people what they already know, but our motto is to believe in our power and we expect to continue to grow in this in the coming years."
Wim and Erik Waterman
He does see shifts within the onion sales. "In the past Scandinavia and Germany were an important sales market for us, but those countries are becoming increasingly self sufficient. The Russian boycott mainly affected us indirectly, it's good to have such a large volume market, but when one door closes, another opens. Without Russia we still realised a record export in the Netherlands last year. The challenge of onion exporters is to find gaps in the global market between the local old and new harvest."
Container terminal
"Timing is crucial to this, and thankfully we have an unmatched logistical position as the Netherlands. Logistics are my hobby, I'm always working on optimising these lines," continues Wim. "I even make sure our transporters work efficiently. And we supply logistics as a service product. A container terminal is being built near Lelystad for the transport of the containers, which means our containers can be transported to the big ports by barge. This would be ideal!"
"We are positive, but the onion sector faces the necessary challenges," concludes the export. "You can see that the growers have been able to determine the price more in recent years. The market has become more transparent, partially due to the internet. Last season we did well with the quality, and we started with a low price and ended high. That's the best scenario you can have. I remain positive about the onion consumption. The global population is growing explosively and in countries with a high onion consumption in particular. The cultivation is growing too, but not as explosively. The Netherlands only supplies a few percent of the global production as the largest export. I expect us to be able to grow to 1.5 million tonnes of onions within a few years!"
For more information:
Waterman Onions
Hannie Schaftweg 12
8304 AR Emmeloord
Tel: +31 (0)527 617 496
Fax: +31 (0) 527 697 801
wim@waterman-onions.nl
www.waterman-onions.nl