"One of us has always checked the goods that leave!"

In the past Rien Paans was active at the Barendrecht trade centre in commerce for a Spanish citrus producer. Later he also started a line of open ground vegetables with the company. When the company went into administration, the trader decided to continue the last branch with the title Verfru Europe. Fourteen years ago he moved to the Spanish Tarragona with his wife, and his son. Arthur has been in the business for eight years now. "One of us has always checked the goods that leave!"

Rien focuses fully on customers in the Netherlands and Belgium from Spain. "Because we create programmes with Spanish growers, the growers are guaranteed an income. 80% of our trade is pre-sold and we sell the excess production to top it up. We have our set programmes toward cutting companies and are looking for additional set lines in the Netherlands. We prefer to work with one sales point per wholesale market. At the moment we're active on five markets."

Rien en Arthur Paans

Verfru Europe's largest product is cabbage, followed by cauliflower, broccoli and kale. The last product in particular is hugely on the rise. "Kale really is a hype and the Spanish growers are profiting from it. The advantage is that they have been able to extend the season in recent year," says Arthur. The company also arranges the transport for its contacts, "Our volumes are growing every year, so it seems we are fulfilling a need. Over the course of the years we have built up good relationships with growers. We don't like to work with cooperative growers, as they don't have much of a future in our view. There are enough free growers, however their average age is quite high."

"There are enough open ground vegetables around here. In the past a lot of growers moved to Murcia to grow there, but due to the water shortage in Murcia the question is how future-proof the cultivation there is. Our advantage is that we have more than enough water. In the summer we fill some of the gaps with watermelons, but other than that, the focus is on open ground vegetables," says Arthur. Verfru traditionally starts the Spanish season in December. "We don't want to be in the way of the Dutch," explains Rien. "For now the prospects are good. The planting is around the same. It has been slightly on the warm side, but the volumes look good. We could do with some rain, but that goes for most of Spain."

The newest challenge is that Rien and Arthur have moved towards Milieukeur certification with a number of growers. "It takes some persuading to convince Spanish growers. At first it is a cost, but we expect it to be of added value in the future, and this is an advantage!"

For more information:
Rien and Arthur Paans
Verfru Europe
Mob Rien: +34 669221480
Mob Arthur: +34 639546103
rien@verfrueurope.com
arthur@verfrueurope.com