"On our study tour in Southern Europe we regularly encountered our brand Flandria, for instance on the wholesale market Mercabarna in Barcelona. Medfel traditionally took place at the end of April in Perpignan, Southern France at the foot of the Pyrenees. With over 4,000 visitors this fair has grown to a commercial level that transcends regional importance. Over 130 buyers visited the fair and there was a large representation from Eastern Europe and Russia. At the fair we met many of REO Veiling's customers, foreign importers as well as Belgian exporters and traders. We also saw a nice selection of fruit and vegetables from producers of our auction at the decoration of the fair stall of French wholesalers. Medfel put the tomato in the spotlight as the main fruit this year."
"In the same region we visited the wholesale market of Montpellier. This is an important sales point for Flemish strawberries, tomatoes, chicory, celeriac and cabbages. The wholesalers at this market (shortened in French to 'MIN') sell the fruit and vegetables to their customers on the spot. They also supply to supermarkets. In our country most fruit and vegetables go to supermarkets through purchasing centres. These centres have been selling their products straight to horticulture auctions for years. The trade to the French supermarkets is organised differently. The trade doesn't just go through purchasing centres. The wholesale also supplies large amounts of fruit and vegetables straight to the supermarkets. Figures show that wholesale is becoming more important in recent years. This is why our auction think it's important to strengthen the direct contact with these wholesalers again."
Mercabarna
"During our conversations we heard that the Southern French wholesalers are interested in the wide supply of fruits and vegetables that the REO Veiling can offer, but they are still uninformed about the logistic possibilities. REO Veiling invested in vacuum cooling. We are convinced that a better utilisation of this quality focussed service for leafy vegetables can offer wider market chances for greenhouse lettuce in the regions near the Mediterranean Sea.""On our study tour we also visited the Mercabarna, the wholesaler market in Barcalona. The most important vegetables from our region at the time of our visit were: leek, greenhouse lettuce, tomatoes, chicory and cabbage. The date codes showed that the vegetables were relatively fresh. Unlike the French market it's less important at Mercabarna whether or not the vegetables are of foreign origin. Flandria has a big reputation on the market at Barcalona. A wholesaler compared the Flandria-leek's reputation to that of a well known fizzy juice. But we determined that the leek from our region is getting more and more competition from the leek from Spain and Portugal. The quality of the leek from those countries is rapidly improving. A lasting investment in the quality of the Flandria vegetables is therefore necessary."
Source: REO Actueel