The main products supplied by Absolute Finest Produce are limes, mangoes, figs, formosa, golden papaya, guava and ginger. Roberta explains that from the range of products exported, non-powdered figs have increased most in popularity in recent years. She says that this is because the retailers no longer want to sell figs with powder. "This has been a massive change for the growers, they have had to change traditional growing methods used to supply the domestic market."
The company trades under the growers' brands which include Abacete, Campo Belo and Vale Formoso for figs, limes are sold under the grower's association brand Aslim and papaya under the SunTropic brand. Roberta says they may one day trade under their own brand to create awareness of the company, but this is dependent on sales of course.
Roberta explains that the domestic market in Brazil is playing a big part in the prices that the growers ask FCA or FOB, as the growers there have no risk in terms of prices and quality as the export quality on products is far higher than the domestic standards, generally in Europe people are selling at lower prices than here. "Limes are a good example, as some importers in Europe are selling at below the costs price in Brazil, which is really puzzling how this is achievable, but thats the challenges of the market and why we get involved."
She goes on to say that the market in Brazil doesn’t require such high standards of technical which ultimately adds to the cost and that retailers there are not interested in it, "some growers also need a lot of work on our part to be able to get them up to speed for exports with various standards, to be able to export, which takes a lot of convincing from our side, but once they see the benefits they are keen and eager to get involved in exports, then the hardest part of course is to find the right partners to work with."
Roberta says a lot of growers in Brazil are very cautious unless they know the client because of the crisis in Europe, they are fully aware of what's happening there at present, and they now are asking for a lot of information in advance about clients that they dont really know and a lot of trust is put in Absolute Finest Produce with the clients to ensure that they are the right ones to work with the growers.
For more information:
Roberta MorettiAbsolute Finest Produce
Tel: +55 35 3721 3789
Email: rmoretti@absolutefp.com.br
www.absolutefp.com.br