Fruit shipped from Belgium to India travels a long distance. It takes 24 to 30 days before the containership docks at one of the ports. During this time all sorts of things can happen that can damage the freight. A datalogger in the containers shows what the conditions are like en route.
Marc Evrard of the Belgische Fruitveiling has strongly encouraged market access to India. He achieved access for Belgian apples and pears to the Indian market in 2009 for BFV and the entire Belgian fruit and vegetable sector. “We have been exporting apples and pears to India since then,” he says. “Our Joly Red in particular, a red sweet apple, does well here. This apple is sold in India all year round.In addition this, during a window of opportunity in the season, or a moment when there are less other alternatives or less cheaper alternatives available, varieties such as Jonagored, Marnica and Vivista are exported.”
Marc Evrard of the Belgische Fruitveiling has strongly encouraged market access to India. He achieved access for Belgian apples and pears to the Indian market in 2009 for BFV and the entire Belgian fruit and vegetable sector. “We have been exporting apples and pears to India since then,” he says. “Our Joly Red in particular, a red sweet apple, does well here. This apple is sold in India all year round.In addition this, during a window of opportunity in the season, or a moment when there are less other alternatives or less cheaper alternatives available, varieties such as Jonagored, Marnica and Vivista are exported.” Season recovered
This export season has been completely different from last year according to Marc, when more apples were going to India from the entire Belgian fruit sector. “India had less of its own production then and the supply from China was less which meant that there was a good demand for our apples.
"This season we hoped to expand on this, but things are different. The local production was larger, and so was that of China. We had already lost some faith but the market has improved slightly,” he says at the end of May. The export season to India runs from November to June, where there is a dip when the local mango production is in full supply. The interest in the European product is the largest during a period of around eight weeks, after the expensive import product is off the market and before the domestic product appears on the market.
"This season we hoped to expand on this, but things are different. The local production was larger, and so was that of China. We had already lost some faith but the market has improved slightly,” he says at the end of May. The export season to India runs from November to June, where there is a dip when the local mango production is in full supply. The interest in the European product is the largest during a period of around eight weeks, after the expensive import product is off the market and before the domestic product appears on the market.
More continuity Marc is positive about India as a new destination, but doesn’t foresee a structural buying as of yet. “By being on the market with the right product we are trying to get more continuity,” he notes. “Everything that contributes to getting the product there as optimally as possible is therefore of interest to us. All of our products for longer distances overseas are foreseen of a Locus Traxx datalogger as a standard. This makes constant monitoring possible. Not only do we know the location of the ship and the container, but also receive information on the conditions in the container. If the temperature is too high at a certain point we can intervene where possible.”
Traceability
Locus Traxx Worldwide offers reail time monitoring in the areas of temperature, location and safety. Suppliers of fresh products have global access to the location and condition of their products in transport with these devices. Automatic updates are gnereated and sent by text or email, which means the users can access the integrity of their products at any moment. The possibility to provide correcting measures before a shipment might be damage or rejected, is a evolutionary development for the sector. (CS)
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Belgische Fruitveiling
Marc Evrard