The current Spanish citrus campaign is becoming very complicated for everyone in the sector, due to various factors.
"Unsuitable temperatures, near-torrential rains, humid conditions and
massive losses in the production; there have been times when there was no availability of fruit and certain suppliers suffered to the point of 'not being able to supply,'" explains the manager of the Spanish-German company, LLombart, Juan Llombart.
Despite this situation, which has created the conditions for complaints to arrive, the manager states that "thanks to a diligent operation, we have actually been able to supply every single batch that we had in the program."
56 years of history
Miguel Llombart travelled in 1960 from the Spanish town of Nules, in Castellon, to German lands, with the aim of creating a distribution company in Germany for oranges and clementines from his region. Thus, in 1961 he founded the LLombart import company in the city of Kehl, Baden, due to its customs centre, shipping port, the rail link and its border station.
Juan LLombart, on the right, next to part of the Llombart team.
In 1981, Llombart Spain was founded and the trading activity focused on citrus fruits, stonefruit, vegetables and lettuce. Llombart Spain coordinates the export to Scandinavia, the UK, Canada and the US. The distribution within Germany, as well as the shipments to Austria and Italy, is coordinated in Germany itself.
In 1991, Roberto Llombart became manager and Juan Llombart was given power. In 1998, Orange X-Press was founded and in the following year Juan LLombart became the company head; ever since, new developments have been made, such as the start of the import of vegetables and the inauguration of LLombart AlmerÃa for the on-site control of the quality of vegetables, in order to provide a better service.
Health is highly appreciated by Germans
The German market is the most important one for Llombart and he is very familiar with it. "Although we do not have official figures or statistics on citrus consumption in Germany, we, as a company, can offer an analysis based on the situation with our customers," explains Juan Llombart.
"I don't think the growth in citrus volumes is stable. One of the factors is the general supply of different fruits and the price-quality ratio that can be offered. We have to supply good products and the customers will consume what they like and find interesting for their health."
In fact, according to Juan Llombart, "the health factor is highly appreciated by German consumers and there we see a great potential to gain ground on other foods, especially on those containing proteins of animal origin.
Spain does not usually give bad surprises
Spain is the main source of Llombart's citrus, although it also imports from Italy and other overseas countries. "We work with highly professional producers and marketers in Spain, which we have been becoming familiar with throughout our 56 years of history. We do not usually have bad surprises," points out the importer. "However, it is clear to us that if some product in our range does not meet the necessary conditions in certain origins, we prefer to advise the customer well and explain that, in this particular case, they may find a better quality in a neighbouring country."
"We have always considered ourselves a 'service-oriented' company (German gelebten service), because we know how to take advantage of our extensive experience to coordinate our production, shipments and quality controls and guarantee a good management from the products' origin to their delivery. We also take great care in the brands we work with, both licensed and from supermarkets, such as Valensina, Sonnenkinder, Klein aber Fein, Pretty in Pink, etc."
"Part of our philosophy is to strive for a stable quality; and achieving and maintaining it across the chain requires taking care of every detail. It is often complicated in the world of fresh fruit, yes, but if it wasn't done properly, we would not have the right to be where we are today," concludes Juan LLombart.
You can visit Llombart at the next edition of Fruit Logistica, in Berlin, in pavilion 5.2, stand A-01.
For more information:
Juan Llombart
LLOMBART
T:+49 7821 9397-17
M: +49 173 3280 820
juan@llombart.de
http://www.llombart.de