In October 2011, Bluewave operations began and at the end of the 2011/12 Chilean blueberry season the company was ranked as the third largest marketer of this berry in Europe, explained trade director, Juan Pablo Hube, in an interview with a Chilean newspaper.
ASF Holland imported 1,058,000 kilos of blueberries, making it the third most important importer in volumes of Chilean blueberries in Europe, after Berry World and Euroberry Marketing.
The strategy? A business model focused on direct export and bulk shipments of blueberries.
"We are exporters, we are marketers who are working with a group of producers in Chile which we represent and teach how to export. They are the ones who are in the documentation and everything is under their names. All settlements come to those names."
Bluewave advises them eg, in the purchase of materials and communication with receivers in the different market destinations. In this first season they have formed an alliance with ASF Holland in Europe and Giumarra in the United States.
In Europe, where they sought to differentiate themselves from the rest of marketers, all of the deliveries were bulk, while the United States did so under the traditional system. "That's because we have not found where we can process bulk with a reliable packing in the U.S. market," indicated a Chilean executive.
Considering the lowest production costs, that the returns to producers vary between 50 cents and a dollar per kilo, depending on the quality of the blueberry: "The fruit does not mix and each producer is paid separately, so if the fruit is good the producer will have better returns, but if it is regular the producer can earn the same as through an exporting company and if it is bad, even less."
Thus, each producer is responsible for their own fruit. Hube also notes that the model improves traceability and that everything is "independent and identified." Even some producers have begun to build their own refrigerators as an investment to improve the quality of their blueberries.
Bluewave currently has a group of 14 farmers, located between Ranchi and Osorno: "The idea is not greatly expand this group. We seek to have a good relationships amongst the group, we search for more than a partner, a friend and we are focused more on quality than quantity. Now, as producers are growing so will volume."
To maintain the quality, Bluewave performs periodic inspections, although for some producers these inspections are not done since "they are mature enough to understand and to solve problems."
What happens if a producer acquires enough experience and wants become independent?
"There's an alliance with the receiver, and that is respected. It has happened to me already with some producers that in the second year, they want to go solo and make contact with receivers, but that's when the receiver warns us to solve
this situation, what kind of producer do we have and what relationship are we looking for."
Why do you think that this group of producers decided to join the business model Bluewave?
"Because they are tired of the traditional export companies and many are willing to take the risk of trying another model, although there are other producers who do not want change. In industry there is room for everyone: big, medium exporters and large business models."
In Europe through ASF Holland blueberries are mainly marketed in Scandinavia, England, Holland and Germany. "The focus is to continue growing since ASF Holland joined Total Produce, and therefore all of Europe´s doors are opened to us," according to portalfruticola.com