With a sense of melancholy, Tony Derwael sometimes looks back to earlier times. Times when exporters were constantly searching for new markets to sell their fruit. At the start of the season, the experienced trader warned that new export markets would need to be found this year, but to his disappointment, these did not materialise, resulting in a very challenging apple season. Tony increasingly observes a degree of complacency. A dangerous trend that, if left unaddressed, will lead to growing imbalances in the market, he warns.
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World citizens
"I often think back to my early days in the sector almost 47 years ago," Tony says. "As an 18-year-old lad, I started working in my father's fruit business. He had no choice but to put me to work from morning to night, which set me on the right path. At the time, I skipped school and spent more time in cafés than in the classroom, but gradually I developed respect for our employees and for the traders who brought fruit from our orchards to market. They always found an outlet, whether in years of scarcity or abundance, sometimes even on the other side of the world."
Tony sees that mentality far less often today. "Many export companies have shifted from being true exporters to becoming service providers for supermarkets. The global outlook we once had as traders in Belgium and the Netherlands has largely been lost to players from the Eastern Bloc. And that has consequences. Even in years with large apple and pear harvests, we sometimes lack the contacts to sell the fruit. That is often down to complacency, or what I call 'pot luck'. Hence my appeal: as exporters, we need to make much more effort."
Proactive
The challenges, he says, are very real. "For pears, we still see reasonably good sales opportunities, thanks to markets such as China, which have partly been developed through the efforts of BFV. A similar situation applies to apples in South America, where Spanish and Portuguese exporters are active, but Belgian and Dutch players are often absent. With apples in particular, production currently exceeds demand in our traditional markets, making proactive customer development essential."
Tony is also concerned about how market data is used. "Figures from Prognosfruit often lag behind reality. Forecasts are made in July but only published in August. By then, conditions in the orchards may have changed considerably, meaning estimates can be thirty to forty per cent off the actual harvest. This season, for example, we had an exceptionally large crop. That is good news for growers, but bad news for the market. Some parties are left with surpluses and choose to wait and see instead of acting proactively, when exactly that is required."
Looking ahead, he stresses the need for flexibility and anticipation. "After a peak year, tree health may be weaker the following season, combined with climatic risks such as early frost. For exporters, this means continuously anticipating both production levels and market developments." Despite the challenges, Tony remains optimistic. "If we respect the lessons of the past, stay proactive, and remain alert to market dynamics, we can tackle these challenges and continue to build a strong Belgian fruit export sector."
For more information:
Tony Derwael
Bel'Export
Neremstraat 2
3840 Borgloon - Belgium
Tel: +32 12 440 551
[email protected]
www.belexport.com
