Siebe van Wijk with The Fruit Republic now the largest fruit exporter in Vietnam

"Vietnam has an area of 800,000 hectares of fruit, but there is hardley any export. That's why we stepped into this gap and we recently built a 4,000 m2 cooled hall with a fresh cut department of 1,000 m2." The company grew quickly and now The Fruit Republic has grown under Van Wijks leadership to the largest fruit exporter in Vietnam. During the Asia Fruit Logistica The Fruit Republic presented itself to the public with, among others, all year round and freshly cut pomelos. The company offers a wide fruit package, imported as well as Vietnamese. "The pure trade of buying and selling isn't our thing. We want to define ourselves with unique products." 

"GlobalGAP certification hardly got off the ground in Vietnam, but we sorted that out. We now have a waiting list of growers who want to supply to us. We buy everything all year round. But we did have to change a lot in the cultivation. I once said jokingly that they grow twigs here. There were no orchards, just forests. We developed a program to cut back the fruit trees in three years, with higher yields and a better quality as a result. The pomelos are originally from Vietnam. This means the Vietnamese pomelos are always lovely and juicy and they can grow pomelos all year round using good water management."

 

"We invest a lot in R&D and this is how we discovered how we could grow the pomelo all year round and how we could improve the peel quality. The sales in Asia all turned out to be able to last longer than the traditional peak period between the Chinese New Year and the Moonfestival. We are now investing in freshly cut pomelos to offer consumers the ultimate convenience. We are expecting results from mainly The UK, the Netherlands, Scandinavia and France. The Dutch consumer is a bit too lazy to peel. A German, for instance isn't," says Siebe. "In Vietnam we did in store marketing campaigns for 250 days of the year and this has clearly affected the consumption. My dream is to advertise on TV, where we can show Dutch consumers how much fun it is to peel a pomelo with the whole family. In Vietnam, but also in Eastern Europe, this is when the whole family relaxes and enjoys a refreshing fruit. In Vietnam people cook the peel and use the extract to wash their hair, because of the lovely smell and the good effect on your hair."