In Poland, the energy prices are increasing in a big way. As well as closing some of the cold chambers, one of the Polish apple exporters is now harvesting and packing at the same time to cut costs. Although it’s a challenge, the company gets great satisfaction from pulling off this logistical feat.
According to Mateusz Wajnert, head of sales for Polish apple exporter Galster, the energy costs have led them to speed up the process of exporting apples. They now harvest and pack at the same time, to reduce the time the cold stores are active: “We are very busy at the moment. For the first time in our history, we started packing apples at the same time that we’re picking them. Of course, apples first go into cold stores to get the right cold temperature. In the last years, we started packing apples after harvest was done and all apples were closed in our cold stores. Because of extremely high energy costs, we decided to change our way slightly. We have a lot of work ahead of us, because picking and packing at the same time is a big logistical challenge, but it gives us satisfaction when it works out.”
Galster had a successful season last year, says Wajnert. This is proven by the fact their customers are returning this season. “For us it’s been important that we’ve been shipping apples already for two weeks and all of our previous clients from last season have ordered one truckload of Galster apples at the minimum. We are very proud of that. Main destinations are the Middle East and a few countries from the west of Europe.”
The season is marked by uncertainties when it comes to costs and prices, Wajnert explains. “The apple season started with low prices for us. Because we also have our own orchards, the prices for apples doesn’t look very positive right now, and we don’t know what we can expect in the next months. The situation isn’t easy to predict anyway. We hope that the prices will grow to compensate for the energy costs of storing apples in the following months. We know that energy cost will be very high, but we have our customers and need to have apples for them in the next months. At the moment we decided to close some cold stories due to the high energy costs. With that situation we need to find some golden solution.”
“We will be exhibiting at Fruit Attraction. First of all the goal is to meet our old customers. Drink some coffee and ask what we can do better for them. Of course we’re still open for new markets. We will have many meetings with new potential customers because we need to still develop in certain regions.” Wajnert concludes
For more information:
Mateusz Wajnert
Galster Sp. z o.o.
Tel: +48 660 042 551
Email: mateusz.wajnert@galster.pl
www.galster.pl