“Purchasing of soft fruit increasingly based on quality instead of price”

“In recent years we have seen a considerable increase in demand for high-quality soft fruit. It is expected that this demand will only become stronger in the coming year,” says sales manager Robbert Leisink from Growers Packers Direct. In this interview, he describes the market for blueberries, raspberries and blackberries, and he talks about the market introduction of skirt packaging of Body&Brains.

“We work hard to be able to guarantee quality for our customers. That is the deciding factor for entering into a long-term cooperation with buyers, ultimately seeing sales increase every year. As service provider or grower you have to make sure your customer has a product on their shelves with as high a quality as possible, so that you can achieve a higher market share together.”

“Fortunately, more and more buyers are starting to realise that purchasing should be done based on quality rather than price. That shift can now be seen on the market. There will always be certain sales areas that will choose price over product, but that’s also necessary to keep sales channels for a slightly lesser product. In the end, it has to be sellable, otherwise we freeze it,” Robbert continues.

“A clear example of this is the blueberry market. That can currently be divided into two categories: purchasing based on price or quality. The Dutch berry season is fast approaching its end, and the stored berries don’t have the same quality as last year, so storage will be supplied sooner. The Polish growers are definitely profiting from this. Prices rose considerably in just a week. Good quality export berries can be found in Poland. These naturally come at a price, and not everyone is willing to accept this price rise.”

“Many day traders are now buying based on price rather than quality. You can set your watch by it that this will not go well,” Robbert says. “We personally guarantee quality by means of our own quality team, which inspects all berries at the place of loading. Because of this, we know beforehand what sort of product we’ll be getting, and how to handle this during production for the final buyers.”

“Spain is naturally empty during this time of year, Spanish growers are working towards the new season, which is coming. Because of this, there’s much demand for raspberries from the Netherlands, Belgium and North Portugal. Because of the very high prices, North Portugal isn’t doing great either. We therefore saw raspberry prices increasing from €8 per kilogram to €13 per kilogram. Despite this, demand for raspberries continues to be enormous, although growers can currently not keep up with the volumes that are demanded. We are now doing our own production of Adelita, both in greenhouses and outdoor. Additionally, we also receive volumes from our growers. This means we are stable for our buyers on the raspberry market,” Robbert continues.

“Blackberries are the most stable product of the past year. Sales were very good every week, and they remained free of quality problems. The blackberry line we first started with our Spanish, Dutch and Belgian growers has ensured that we can offer a great blackberry in good volumes twelve months per year,” Robbert says. “Production will be expanded in the coming year, which means there’s still room for new buyers who want supply throughout the year. We offer blackberries in our programme for one price during the entire year. Because of this you can plan production well in advance, which is important, and you can bear in mind shipping to various countries. Blackberries still have a limited shelf life compared to blueberries and raspberries, although it has improved. Because of this, planning and communication between buyers and growers is of great importance. By working in programmes of twelve months, it’s easier to exclude risks. Although you are naturally always dependent on the weather, but everyone is, and it’s therefore a well-known phenomenon.”

“Our new skirt packaging combined with Body&Brains, which has become an immediate eye catcher for consumers, is now also starting to find sales on the market. Retailers are impressed by the packaging, and like seeing it on shelves in both Europe and Asia. The first deliveries have been in the shops, and we saw sales of these increasing. The orders are becoming larger, so it is great to see our expectations coming true as well,” Robbert says. 

“Retailers are now also discovering that not just sales of the Body&Brains brand are increasing. They’ve also seen sales of their own brand increasing because consumers are triggered by the appearance of the packaging, and end up with more soft fruit from the refrigerated display than before,” Robbert concludes.

“We will also participate in the fairs of the Asia Fruit Logistica in Hong Kong (Hall 5, stand T-11), and the Fruit Attraction Madrid (Hall 9, stand H01D) again, to show our buyers and potential customers how strong the brand is to consumers!”