In January 2020 - barely two months before the Corona outbreak in Western Europe - Fruitsolute BV was founded in the Dutch Westland. Under this name, the company supports its customers in areas such as the ripening, packaging and fruit logistics of exotic fruits. A step that has proven its worth in the first two eventful years, says Key Account Manager Fokke Nieboer when asked.
Fokke Nieboer joined Fruitsolute in October as Key Account Manager in charge of customer acquisition and support.
"At the moment, we have a total of 29 ripening cells for exotics, whereas we once started with just 10 chambers," says Nieboer. For the time being, it is mainly Dutch and German wholesale and food retail companies that make use of Fruitsolute's service. "In most cases, these are classic programs and medium-sized batches. In the future, however, we also want to win over larger importers and exporters so that we can secure larger volumes in advance and plan accordingly. The first projects in this segment are already in the pipeline. The aim is to serve as many markets as possible and to grow continuously."
In addition to the classic basic products mangoes, avocados and kiwis, which are ripened and packaged accordingly, the independent service provider offers its customers a comprehensive service package around exotics. "Anyone who needs a ready-to-eat product is in the right place with us. We don't focus on certain items, but we also take care of other products, such as citrus fruits - for example, in the summer outside the classic exotic season. In addition, we hope to be able to put our new drying facilities for ginger into operation in a few months, because we also see further growth potential in this segment," Nieboer further outlines.
Over the years, Nieboer says the maturing process has been constantly developed and, where possible, optimised. We have set ourselves the goal of ripening each batch within 5 days, always taking into account the respective variety and origin". The Hass avocado is still by far the most popular fruit on the Western European market, while the Green Skin no longer requires post-ripening. In addition to the above-mentioned, commercially available varieties, tropical avocados (such as Semil) are also becoming increasingly important, especially in the premium segment. On the procurement side, Moroccan avocados are now increasingly finding their way to European consumers, whereas until recently they were mainly shipped under the Spanish flag."
Fokke Nieboer in one of the 29 ripening chambers. Since the goods to be ripened are ventilated from both sides, a homogeneous ripening process is created. The residual heat of each ripening chamber is reused accordingly
Although the exotics market is still on an upward trend, the ongoing Corona crisis has also been felt in this product category, he said. "Particularly during the first few months after the outbreak, a great deal of uncertainty characterized events. Due to the slump in gastronomy, the food retail sector boomed, which is why orders as well as volumes also jumped for us within a very short period of time. While sales have gradually stabilized since the end of 2020, sea freight is continuously becoming more expensive. In addition, there tends to be more delayed container deliveries, due to the problems in the closely networked, global shipping traffic."
Last but not least, packaging material is becoming increasingly scarce: "Fortunately, we can fall back on several packaging solutions and have been able to avoid bottlenecks so far. In addition, the customer is mostly understanding, also because we have been working in partnership with many of them for years.
For more information:
Fruitsolute B.V.
Fokke Nieboer
Tel: +31 (0) 174 . 700 . 800
Email: [email protected]
www.fruitsolute.com