"Trader's core task has changed and become more service orientated"
Mart Valstar from Best Fresh Group
In this interview Mart shares his vision for the future of the cultivation and trade of fruit and vegetables and the strategic choice of the Best Fresh Group for the niche products. "A bulk exporter has no long term future."
Buildings and ideas
Mart does believe it is important for the sector to continue to inspire agrologistic areas. "Collective buildings and complexes are far more efficient in the long term than stand alone. The 'living boulevards' of vegetables was created by our ancestors hundreds of years ago in auctions and hiring a combination of locations is much more flexible than just between four walls. And we've not even mentioned the logistic benefits yet! It sometimes seems like we have a kind of (zelfverheerlijker?) building culture, in which everyone builds something nice for themselves, but I am convinced that if you carry out the marketplace principle of an agrologistic location right, trade will come to it. Trade attracts trade and so there's no use settling ten miles out."
Logistic streams
Research by Fresh Corridor surprisingly showed that more overseas products come into the Westland than Barendrecht, The Netherlands. Former exporters have started importing and large storage and throughput companies have arisen, who mainly take care of storage for large foreign producers. Every customer has their own wishes and we can provide them in such a versatile logistic region. Despite the crisis the number of containers with fruit coming into the port of Rotterdam has only grown. As a result of the container situation more fruit and vegetables will end up in other ports, but Rotterdam will always maintain its function, as the containers are split here for sales in various different European countries. It seems absurd, but Israeli peppers came in from the port of Koper (Slovenia). We packaged them on demand and sold them in the Czech Republic. This shows the speed and versatility of our cluster."
This is why I promote the power of the Dutch logistics at every opportunity. Even when overseas shippers open up their own offices here, the logistics still run through Holland. This is why it irritates me that the entire Randstad is stuck as soon as there is any heavy rain. We have three main ports in Holland with Schiphol, the Rotterdam port and the Greenport, and they all benefit from having no traffic jams. Camiel Eurlings has work for this, but when I heard minister Schultz say that not enough road wasn't the problem a few weeks ago, I don't think they understand. Just look at how the three lane A4 solved the problem at Rhoon." "More and more foreign cooperations are selling from locations in Europe, or starting a European sales office, and this could limit the function of importers in the future. This is one of the reasons that we have positioned our logistics companies separately and offer a solution to this. Because more and more streams are coming from third parties we have made the warehouse independent so it is able to work more efficiently with mixed loads," says Mart. He says they are not looking for partnerships of collaboration with growers abroad. "But I am not ruling it out. I think that a company like Staay has a good model for this, and I expect it to have a future."
Food shortage
According to the fruit and vegetable trader the expected food shortage in the future offers potential for the Dutch horticulture cluster. "According to the calculations of experts be will have around 9 billion people on earth in 2040, of which the European share will decrease. Many reports which claim that the earth only has a certain percentage of ground left to foresee the current world population of food with current techniques have appeared in recent years, including one from Rabobank. With our cultivation technical know-how, in which we can grow over sixty kilos of tomatoes per square metre, it has to be possible to come up with solutions with the cultivation and trade, with which we can present ourselves as a 'global player' and think up smart solutions."
The manager of the Best Fresh Group understands the tendency for more and more Dutch trading companies to open a sales office in Asia. "More demand for fruit and vegetables from China and the Far East has been created. The collaboration creates a win-win situation. Due to the food safety, China likes to do business with European companies and the trade companies want to secure their turnover. You have to have a lot of courage and ability to control your company on the Asian market. I'm not ruling out that we may have locations or collaborations abroad in the future, but in Asia's case you need to know what you're getting into."
When asked whether the role of the trader has or has not shifted to that of a logistic supplier, Mart replies: "A trader's core task has certainly changed and become more service orientated than it was 15 years ago. This will only continue. We have moved from a demand market to a supply market, in which the competition is high and you need to be very alert to act in the right position in the playing field. This is why you see that all companies, both in the trade and other links, have become more professional. It seems like we understand more that we have to collaborate in the chain."
Government
Government's retreating movements leads to more involvement from the businesses themselves, according to Mart. "LNV is gone, the PT is leaving and the auctions are disappearing. The chain seems increasingly shorter, but most of the same people still work in it. What is striking is that the employment in Greenport has gone up in Greenport over the last 14 years, hats off to that. But it has consequences. The larger companies now have to take responsibility - in time and money - to decide and invest in sector and sometimes regional subjects. I have spent too much time on this, but I encourage colleagues to take on this responsibility."
Sustainability
The Best Fresh Group participates fully in initiatives in the area of sustainability. "But we don't say enough about it. For instance, we participate in cultivation companies in Africa, in which we have built schools and buildings for employees, to give social stability, but we also do good for our employees close to home. We have the newest trucks and cooling installations based on air temperature and participate in two cultivation projects based on geothermal heat in Holland. Next year we want to emphasise this more. We see sustainability as a condition, but on the other hand sustainability initiatives are often used commercially, and not always correctly."
Future
This year the Best Fresh Group will grow once again, but there have been lesser years in the past. "Every company goes through a difficult period in a certain phase. This can be due to employees leaving, suppliers of a customer going bankrupt. This goes for us too. In 2006 we had to start all over again after leaving VDN and we had two difficult years in 2010 and 2011. In the former case we had to adapt to the market. In the latter it was the organisations' turn. Both have to be closely watched. Thankfully we have had a turnaround in 2012 and our vision is clear."
In the future Mart hopes to build the company out to a healthy market position per sector at a normal rate. "It could happen that we become larger, but growth is not a goal in itself. We will lose customers and I believe we will serve less, but we'll have a larger customer in the retailer. I expect our share wholesale, food service and industry to remain considerable at round 40/50%. We have made huge advances in the organisation in recent years. We do a lot to educate our employees. We have around ten interns at the moment and organise a brainstorm with the entire commerce teams twice a year. We hope to strengthen our market position with a clear strategy over the next few years."
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