Despite the fact that Germany has 80 million inhabitants, i.e. around 20 million more than Italy, it only has 17 wholesale markets against the 134 found in Italy.
Andmi, the association of wholesale market directors presided by Pietro Cernigliaro, is working with the Union of German markets to strengthen their collaboration. "Over 10 years (2007-2017), the Italian traditional channel went from holding 50% of the market to 37%, which in turn means 4.18 million tons against 2.97 million. 11% of volumes passes through markets in Germany, 15% in Great Britain, 20% in the Netherlands, 28% in Spain and 31% in France.
"In Germany too, wholesale markets, commercial platforms and urban logistics are at the center of the value chain of fresh products. Within the food distribution system, wholesale markets account for 32% of fruit and vegetables, 14% of plants and flowers and 5% of fish and meat. German wholesale markets have unique characteristics, yet they all have to deal with the same challenges, which also include the underestimation of wholesale markets on an economic, social, cultural and nutritional level," wrote Frank Willhausen, GFI consultant for the Union of German Markets in the latest Andmi newsletter.
In Germany too, wholesale markets and trading platforms are in direct competition with the oligopolistic chains of big retailers, who benefit from the help of a great political lobby on a European level as well. German wholesale markets do not receive state funds or contributions.
"Because of this, we are even prouder of the fact operators can make a profit. We have reached this objective thanks to an efficient management of the markets, which creates and guarantees the necessary organizational and infrastructural requirements that enable operators to be competitive."
Andmi is doing everything it can to set up a Market Observatory and to make it effective not so much to reduce the number of markets, but rather to make them work together so they can continue to be close to consumers with fresh high-quality products.
"We welcome the creation of an observatory in Italy. The project set up by Andmi and presented by Uniontrasporti is innovative and highly needed. It would be important for Italian operators to be made aware of the objectives, characteristics and organization of the observatory as soon as possible."
"There is no such thing in Germany due to the size and limited number of wholesale markets and it would not even be necessary as 17 markets are easily manageable. The exchange of information and coordination is granted by the GFI Deutsche Frischemärkte association, which gathers the managing bodies and directors of the markets. We collect and use the data and information and can even access data supplied by external partners."
Contacts:
Pietro Cernigliaro
ANDMI
Email: pcernigliaro@hotmail.it
Website: www.andmi.it