Aartsenfruit Asia is a part of the Aartsenfruit Group, even though their location is in Asia instead of Europe, they always maintain the same levels of professionalism, structure and strategy as Aartsenfruit Europe.
Their main strategy is to handle everything that is fresh. They call that NonStopFresh, which means that Aartsenfruit can deliver an enormously wide range of fruits and vegetables, directly from the farms of their partners, from every corner of the globe (Aartsenfruit is handling fruit from over 56 different countries!). That is then distributed from more than 90 distribution points in 17 countries in Asia. So a very wide spread in terms of products and distribution. “NonStopFresh is something we are very proud of.’’ Said Menno van Breemen.
Aartsenfruit branding in the fruit import market in Shanghai
Aartsenfruit Asia is distributing a lot of different fruits and vegetables for the Chinese market. They are present in first tier cities, such as Guangzhou, Shanghai and Beijing, though, in the last few years, they have become more and more focused on distribution online and in second and third tier cities.
As is becoming clear, most markets in first tier cities are developed to a point where the market is saturated, but in second and third tier cities, there is still a lot of space left for new developments and investments to take place. As Van Breemen mentioned they are not afraid of a challenge and would like to explore more of Western China. “We distribute a very wide range of products within Aartsenfruit Asia. We are not dependent on certain products due to our wide spread. We are handling big commodities like grapes or citrus, but also exotics, asparagus, all kinds of berries, pineapples, stone fruits etc. We have seen a big and growing demand for avocados and blueberries, but also in terms of citrus we see a growth in different new varieties which we also see in grapes. There are nowadays so many grape varieties that it’s at the same time a big opportunity as well as a nice challenge to keep up with the trends and to make the right decisions.”
Aartsenfruit Asia is also distributing a wide range of fruit into the South East Asian countries, which is part of their strategy to become more broadly orientated. Nowadays, different kind of products are becoming more popular in the international fruit and vegetable sector. As Menno van Breemen from Aartsenfruit Asia mentions, for South East Asia, seedless grapes, avocados, blueberries and organic products are increasingly popular. “It’s interesting to see that people increasingly want to know where their fruit originates from and how its grown. I think it’s also a good thing people are more aware of food safety and the benefits of a healthy lifestyle.”
Branding and marketing is something we spend a lot of energy on, with brands of our growers, but also with our own home brands like Grandezza, Mamba, Uno, Capito or Okuku, which we launched recently for Australian and New Zealand produce. It’s a challenge to cover the free market in a good way; strong brands and consistent marketing help there. If there are new customers interested in our way of working please contact us. We always are on the lookout. Our organization in Asia is growing but we always stick to our strategy.” Concludes Van Breemen.
Looking to the business in Europe - Aartsenfruit imports are from all over the world and again everything that is fresh from 56 countries. Of course we are also in the export business out of China. “The fruits and vegetables we export from China into Europe are pears, pomelos and fresh ginger. We sell these products under our own home brand named ‘Yami’. Besides these Chinese products, Aartsenfruit Asia also use their ‘Yami’-brand to sell Malaysian carambolas, Thai dragon fruit, baby maize, asparagus and lemon grass.
The Chinese pears Aartsenfruit exports into Europe are a different kind of pear variety than we are used to eating in Europe. Entering the European pear market is quite difficult, so this Crown pear from Aartsenfruit is entering quite a tough market. Though, as Van Breemen explains: “The volume we import into Europe increases a bit every year, even though it is a tough market, we are able to gain some market share.”
Aartsenfruit branding in the fruit import market in Shanghai
“The other products we sell from China are fresh ginger and pomelos. We see a very big increase in the volumes of fresh ginger we export every year. It is a very interesting product for us, since there is still a lot of room left in this market. Because we have the right product and sell it under the right brand with the right packaging we are able to increase this market share for us. Furthermore, pomelos are also doing very well on the European market, we also see a yearly growth for this product.”
Menno van Breemen
Aartsenfruit Asia
Email: menno.van.breemen@aartsenfruit-asia.com