He is proud of the expansion of the product range. "Every week, we process approximately 6,500 sales transactions which are all handled by our own in-house IT system in Southport. With a share of 80% of turnover, sales in the UK are still Nationwide’s main activity. With six offices on the UK mainland and an office in Belfast, we are well situated for buying and selling across the UK and Ireland. We supply packing firms that are closely linked to all major UK retailers," says Tim. "However, we have always been a real family business. Everything is always fresh and dedication to quality produce is at the core of the business."
"But our products are also sold to 23 other countries. The UK is an importing country, so about 60% of our produce is procured from outside the UK. Our office in the Spanish horticultural region of Almeria exports to northern Europe, while our office in Emmen does business with Central Europe, Scandinavia and the Baltic States. Our facilities for Vitaal Europe in Poeldijk are strategically located in the middle of Europe’s main production areas and near the port of Rotterdam, so we have easy access to imported products from around the world. We wouldn’t be able to organise all that from the UK. We don’t have the sort of agro-logistic trading centres that there are in the Netherlands. Moreover, English produce companies are not good at working together," laughs Tim.
Although the British consumer has a preference for British products, the English greenhouse vegetable acreage has remained stable for years. "We have to deal with the same climatic conditions as the Netherlands, so you would think that there is more potential for growth in the UK greenhouse vegetable sector, but it is still not happening. For us, this is not a problem, because we have a great availability of greenhouse vegetables from Spain and the Netherlands from our regular suppliers," affirms Tim.
Asked about whether Vital Organics will become the next division, the Group Managing Director gives a negative answer. "If you look at organic sales in the United Kingdom, you will see that the great majority of them are carried out in the South-East and major cities. We are very strongly represented in the north and relatively little organic food is consumed there. Also, our main market is food-service which has negligible sales of organic produce." At product level, he predicts growth especially for exotics. "Avocados top every ranking. It's really amazing how this product has taken off. However, the popularity of sweet potatoes and squash has also increased sharply in recent years."
Last, but not least, we ask Tim O'Malley the inevitable question about the consequences of the Brexit for the British fruit and vegetable sector. "The effects are not as bad as we first thought. For exports, Brexit may even be beneficial, but in the UK we export very little fresh produce. We have 65m people on our small island which means we are massive importers of produce - we import 50% of our vegetables and 90% of our fruit. The biggest problem is for the migrant workers. Because of the pound’s drop in value, seasonal workers have seen their wages fall to similar levels to those of their home countries, and we could never fill that gap with British workers. That is why I am so glad that, several years ago, we made a strategic decision to expand our product range. The share of root vegetables is still stable, but we have significantly grown in greenhouse vegetables, exotics and fruit."
For more information:
Tim O'MalleyGroup Managing Director
Nationwide Produce PLC
Tel: +44 (0) 1406 490490
tim@nationwideproduce.com
www.nationwideproduce.com