The product range of René Noordam of Polish company Ramawa is expanding step by step. He now also has Belgian endive from Poland in his product range. Last week, Noordam struck a deal with a Dutch grower of Belgian endive, who has been working in Poland for five years. Belgian endive is not very well-known yet in Poland, but René expects that to change.
Securing a place
"I believe in the product," he emphasizes. "Of course, not many Poles know of it yet, and the volumes are not that big yet. But the market is developing, and Polish eating habits are changing. We are noticing demand within the country and from other buyers, like the Czech Republic and Austria. There are fewer sellers here, so we really only have one big competitor in this product. We're going to see if we can distinguish ourselves with the Dutch know-how and quality, securing a place."
Last year, René Noordam started with the Ramawa agency. He specializes in sales to Eastern Europe. This summer, he will carry even more Polish produce. "When I began, the idea was to get produce to Eastern Europe through the Netherlands. These days, more and more customers are asking for Polish produce. That's why I made a few agreements, and this summer we will also sell broccoli, cauliflower and iceberg lettuce."
Russia
When it comes to the general situation on the Polish fruit market, René notices something. "When you see the amount of apples that are still here, you don't expect the mood to be optimistic, but it is. Growers and traders are still busy looking for new markets, and they appear to be succeeding rather well. At first, the Polish quality was criticized on some markets, but the shipments turned out to be good. Many fruit growers were pretty much dependent on Russia, but I think many of them won't focus on one market anymore in future. Of course you hear reports of European produce ending up in Russia, but they seem to be doing okay there. I personally never focused on Russia, I had my reasons not to jump on that bandwagon."