Sluggish demand
Nevzat Cenik reports that, because of the cold weather, the demand for water melons in Central Europe is sluggish at the moment: “While goods are being sold, it is going slowly. The business and demand for water melons depend strongly on the weather. When the weather is warm and sunny, one quickly notices that more water melons are being sold.” At the beginning of the season the importer obtains his product exclusively from Iran. Since May, he explains, imports have been from Tunisia and Morocco.
Water melons from Iran available since January
Depending on size and packaging, the importer currently gets between 0,90 and 1,00 Euro for his melons. In Iran, cucurbits are being cultivated near the Afghan-Pakistani border.”From the southern regions of Iran, the water melons have been available since January”, Cenik reports. “However, because of the limited demand caused by weather conditions, we have begun with the import into Europe.” The import into Europe follows by CA truck.
Quality advantage through short routes of transportation
“The quality of our water melons is really good”, said the importer. “Our imported products are very healthy and there are no problems with the quality. In addition, compared to the product currently available on the market, our melons are extremely aromatic. That is the feedback our customers submit to us.” Cenik sees a quality advantage in the shorter routes of transportation of his melons: “Because of the long transport routes of our other products, which originate primarily in South America, our melons have a quality advantage.”
As of summer: Iranian sugar melons
Currently the melon assortment of TEO FRUIT includes exclusively water melons. “But in summer, over a delivery period of roughly three months, we traditionally also have our Iranian sugar melons”, Nezvat Cenik explains, “these weigh around three to five kilos and are sold primarily to our Arab-tribe customers. Our European customers usually prefer small Galia melons, which weigh between 0,9 and 1 kilograms.”
Biological-organic water melons are the goal
In the future, the company also wants to sell organic grown water melons. “Here, we are directly involved in building our business connections. This will certainly take some time, but we have set the sale of organic water melons as a goal”. The plan is, that from summer onward, the Hungarian-Austrian company will also trade in bell peppers and egg plants from Hungary.
Nevzat Cenik
TEO FRUIT
Tel.Österreich + 43 (0) 681 2070 5660
Tel.Ungarn : +36 (0) 20 326 7245
teofruit@hotmail.com
www.aykutfruit.com