North Bay Produce's Dutch sales office is entering its fourth year this year. "We now have six people working in the Netherlands and England, which we should expand further in the coming years," begins Wilco Arts. North Bay is a North American cooperative with growers in North, Central, and South America. North Bay Europe's Dutch office focuses on marketing standard and premium varieties blueberries from Peru, Chile, Africa and Europe. "We're currently getting the last berries from Peru from our Sekoya® program."
The team of North Bay Produce from North-, Central- and South-America and Europe during the Fruit Logistica
As a result of El Niño's woes, Wilco reflects on a difficult overseas season. "That affected everyone, and our supply forecasts were higher than what we ended up with. However, our Peruvian team said early on that we needed to put the brakes on sales. So, we could deliver our programs just fine last year. Especially in the early season, there was minimal fruit on the market. We, though, had reasonably good volumes available to serve European retail. This is because our Sekoya berries performed better, especially early in the season, than most other blueberries. Our berries, thus, gained considerable attention," he says.
"Blueberry market prices differ quite substantially. Quite a bit of volume has come in from Chile, and supermarkets are responding quite aggressively to that with promotions. Prices for Peruvian and the new Moroccan crop were much higher. As one of Sekoya's licensees, we can license our growers worldwide to cultivate this variety program. We're increasingly doing that in countries like Morocco, Spain, Poland, South Africa, and Georgia. So we can offer the Sekoya varieties year-round on the European market and thus distinguish ourselves with premium varieties. We are still exploring new areas and looking for the right partners where we can grow."
"In the coming years, better varieties will probably increasingly replace the standard ones on the market. For us, as a Sekoya licensee, that's a great opportunity. We run the same concept with raspberries and blackberries. We have test sites in Serbia and Morrocco, where we test different varieties. Eventually, that should also lead to a year-round program to supply the European market," Wilco explains.
Complementing its berries, North Bay is also a major player in Peruvian snow peas and sugar snaps. "This season started a few weeks later than planned due to weather conditions. Rain and delays made that hard. But that affected our grower in Caraz less than in other growing areas in Peru, leading to an even better quality season than in past years."
"We import Peruvian snow peas and sugar snaps mainly via sea freight and get them nearly year-round supply. with a few weeks of product from Guatemala, we can offer it all year round. In addition with a few weeks of product from Guatemala, we can offer it all year round. We expect to be able to offer high-quality snow peas and sugar snaps again next season."
For more information:
Wilco Arts
North Bay Produce Europe
Tel.: +31 (0) 615 521 989
warts@northbayeurope.eu
www.northbayproduce.com