The start of the export of Dominican pineapples in single packs had some difficulties, but now Dominican Gold Fruit's, Rene Noordam is ready to launch the pineapples in exclusive packaging more widely on the market. "To coordinate the export from here, you have to keep an overview. That's why I returned to the Dominican Republic a year and a half ago to be able to coordinate everything myself," says the Dutchman. "We now have a good grip on the cultivation and we have the quality required to ship it by air."
"The pineapple has the right colour and taste with a Brix value of 15+.
Only the best quality comes in the packaging. We concentrate purely on the air freight market and do not want to win it by price, but by taste. Although this pineapple in an exclusive packaging is more expensive than in an open box, the pineapple with its scent, yellow colour, sells itself in an exclusive black packaging. All customers who ordered them comes back to it," says Rene.
"On request, we also deliver sample boxes in the Netherlands and a pineapple is cut into slices on site at the office so that the sellers can try them. The response to this is positive. It is precisely these sales people who have to convince customers of the taste experience."
"The quantities available to us are increasing. There will soon be another producer who can deliver according to our specifications.
But we harvest by order and do not build up stocks in Europe. The greatest demand comes initially from Russia, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain and Greece. Unfortunately, exports to Europe have currently stalled due to the Coronavirus. Last weekend we had a program ready, which luckily we were able to partially rebook.
Fortunately, exports to Russia will continue," says Rene."But we find that many companies have become cautious as a result of the virus outbreak. The catering trade is also an important sales market for air cargo pineapples. But we will not sit back and do nothing. You get inventive in times of crisis. For example, we are in talks with a number of interested supermarket chains."
Rene heads Dominican Gold Fruit in collaboration with local fruit specialist, Edmundo Guzman. He also sees opportunities to further promote Dominican fruit exports. "The Dominican Republic really produces a fruit of super quality, only a lot of product is lost in the warehouse due to errors in the cooling and packaging. Since I am on site, we manage to guarantee year-round care of the same quality.
I am also active in the field of organic bananas and we also ship ginger and turmeric. During the season we'll also start exporting organic air cargo mangoes again! "