"Many people are looking for more exclusive products in the run-up to the holidays. People are willing to spend more money at this time of year. We are therefore already seeing a sharp increase in demand for exotics in the run-up to Christmas, and in the last two weeks before Christmas, we are expecting an absolute madhouse," says account manager Arjan Everding of Exotic Roots. "For instance, we see more and more companies giving luxury fruit baskets to their staff or customers instead of a gift or a parcel. These often also contain exotics to make the gift just that little bit more special."
© Exotic Roots
Granadilla
"At Exotic Roots, our range of exotic products continues to grow constantly. We have been importing Formosa papayas and yellow mangoes from Brazil for some time. That runs nicely year-round, but in the pre-Christmas period, we quickly sell double the number of pallets. We also see a lot of demand for exotics from Ecuador and Colombia. The runners-up from these source countries are the granadilla and pitahaya, but we also see increasing demand for niche exotics, such as soursop, baby mangoes, maracuja, and red guava," Arjan continues.
© Exotic Roots
Young coconuts and yellow pitahaya
More container supply
"The availability of exotics by air is, fortunately, good. However, we do see that air freight availability is traditionally a bit trickier just before Christmas, which is why we have to plan programmes well ahead, especially for retail," Arjan says. "Our sea freight programmes are also running nicely. Previously, we mainly received containers from Costa Rica, but we have recently expanded this offer from Brazil to include sweet potatoes, kabocha pumpkins, and ginger."
© Exotic Roots
Sweet potatoes
"Furthermore, our Asian imports also continue to grow. For instance, we import the necessary products from Thailand and Indonesia, where mangosteen and salak are the real runners-up for the Christmas period. We are also noticing an increasing demand for atemoya and kumquats from Lebanon. Last but not least, we have added young coconuts and pomelos to our exotic range from Vietnam, also by sea freight. We expect more demand for these too in the run-up to Christmas," continues the account manager.
© Exotic Roots
Mangosteen
"At Exotic Roots, we look back on a successful year. We started up many new sourcing lines, moved our office to Rotterdam, and our workforce almost doubled. Besides the wholesalers we have been supplying for several years, we have also made great strides in the past year to serve retail. Within our product range, this requires the necessary energy to have the right certifications for this, but we now have that well underway with a number of products. Over the next two weeks, we are in full swing to fill the demand from our customers towards the holidays, so make sure you are not late!"
For more information:
Arjan Everding
Exotic Roots
Dinkel 5
3068 HB Rotterdam
Tel: +31 (0)10 501 05 41
[email protected]
www.exoticroots.nl
