Belgium: End of Moroccan strawberry season at Nicolaï Fruit

The Moroccan strawberry season has ended at Nicolaï Fruit, Belgium. Johan de Gendt looks back at the moment that the DireFresh strawberries arrived for the first time at the end of January. "The beginning was hard but on the whole, the season went better than I dared hope. We even had trouble supplying everyone in mid February. We even laid a foundation for coming season."

"Taste was a selling point"

According to Johan they benefit as a company from everything being vertically integrated. "From the grower to the consumer, we control all steps in the chain. This gives us a lot of flexibility and we can easily play into changes. This goes in one straight line without intermediaries." DiraFresh received a lot of enthusiasm from the branch on its packaging and taste. "Especially the taste was appreciated. It really was a selling point. Many people indicated that these were sweeter than the Spanish ones. This is because the Moroccans had more sunlight."

"Price-wise the start-phase was terrible. It all started with snow, and there was little demand. In mid February it pulled up and we were able to work toward a good price. The season also started a lot later than usual due to the cold weather in the growing period." This year the strawberries are expected earlier. "It depends on the weather, but I think they'll be here in December. This way we can supply the demand at Christmas nicely."

Plenty development

The trader notes that they learned a lot this season. "There are still some problems that we ran into, which are being worked on. Next season we want to profile ourselves more strongly on the market with multiple packagings. Playing into the European market demand by supply packaging that there's a demand for. We're also busy looking for more origins and to supply more products of the brand DiraFresh. This is in full development."

DireFresh is the result of a collaboration agreement between Nicolaï Fruit and Dirafrost. Direfrost from Herk-de-Stad is a subsidiary of the Austrian group Agrana and has been keeping large strawberry plantations in the North of Morocco since 1994. Nicolaï Fruit from Sint-Truiden has been selling fruit and vegetables all over Europe for over 20 years. The Moroccan strawberry area of Direfrost is 60 hectares. This is 100% self owned." Johan indicates that they can also use 180 hectares which is affiliated with the group. In total we can use 240 hectares."

For more information:
Johan De Gendt
Nicolaï Fruit n.v.
Schuurhovenveld 3124
3800 Sint-Truiden - België
T: + 32 (0)11 69 55 55
F: + 32 (0)11 69 55 56
[email protected]
www.nicolaifruit.be