It’s not as hectic around Easter as it has been in previous years, but export is starting to improve. “Carrots, red and yellow onions are the main products in the full lorries,” says Robert Sijm from Simba Vegetables. “It’s starting to move in dribs and drabs. Price-wise, however, it won’t make much of a profit, because I heard there’s still too much product.” Besides these largest product groups (carrots, red and yellow onions), some white cabbage, celeriac, leeks and turnips are loaded onto the lorries. “White cabbage is bought directly from local growers as much as possible,” Robert says. “Everything is still in stock and quality is good. Only Dutch kohlrabi is running out a bit.”
Maurice Ott (l) and Robert Sijm from Simba Vegetables on the market in Bronisze, Poland.
Simba Vegetables was founded three years ago. As an exporter, they anticipate specific packaging desires of customers. They focus mostly on customers in Eastern Europe: Poland, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia and Belarus. They mostly export large outdoor vegetables to these countries.
But it's not just the products that go to Eastern Europe; Robert and Maurice Ott also regularly go there. They have visited many customers recently. “We do that at least twice a year. Despite all modern communication means, it’s just very important. When you often have telephone or e-mail contact, you eventually want to know what the person on the other end looks like,” Robert says. The visits immediately result in more trade, and Simba Vegetables has noticed that. “It results in a lot, also from new customers we didn’t supply before the visits.”
By visiting on location, Simba Vegetables better knows which desires and requirements the customer has in the field of packaging.
Packaging
An important issue for customers to anticipate is packaging. Robert: “Especially for carrot and onions, it’s less important for potatoes, when you can anticipate that it’ll result in additional sales. We therefore designed our own packaging for Simba. After we supply the products to customers, these often get sent in all directions. A share is for local retailers, but much is also sent to markets.”
For more information:
Simba Vegetables
Robert Sijm
Zwaagdijk 149
1684 ND Zwaagdijk
M: +31 (0)622 224 855