Left: Robbie Bloemendaal, right his son on the wholesale market
"We have been working with most Romania retailers since 2007. Before Romania entered the EU in 2007 a large part of the fruit and vegetable sales still took place through vegetables stores. Now most goes through the supermarkets. All large supermarkets such as the Schwarz Group, Rewe, Delhaize and Carrefour are present here. The fruit and vegetable consumption is at a high level in Romania, so the chances on the local market are big," says Robbie.
Trade
"The largest cultivations here are tomatoes, pointed peppers, cucumber, mini cucumber, apples and open ground products. But quality wise it isn't possible to supply all markets with Romanian product, which means we continue to import the Dutch and Polish tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and aubergines in the summer. You do see more dedication to quality whereas everything used to be accepted," says Robbie. "At the moment we are busy setting up direct lines from Spain and South Africa."
Total Fresh Office
Robbie looks towards the future of Total Fresh with confidence: "There are enough opportunities to grow here. We are already exporting a wide variety of apples, plums, cherries, watermelons, tomatoes and cucumbers from Romania. The biggest challenge is to play a larger role in the local production, both towards the export markets and the local supermarkets."
For more information:
Robbie Bloemendaal
Total Fresh SRL
Tel. 0040747195800
R.bloemendaal@total-fresh.com