Horticulture news
Former chef and ex-manager at 2 Sisters Food Group, Bryan Nelson, will take over accounts for Freshtime’s largest retail customers
Growing salad and vegetable company Freshtime has boosted its management team with the addition of former chef Bryan Nelson.
Nelson, who has been working in the food industry for 20 years, will handle Freshtime’s three largest retail customers in his role of national account manager.
Having opened a restaurant in Aberdeen, Nelson has also previously worked as commercial manager at Young’s Seafood and new business manager at 2 Sisters Food Group.
“This business is ready to expand and I’m looking forward to being part of it,” he said. “Our managing director Mark Newton was a huge influence on my decision to come here. I knew the company before I joined; Mark has told me about his plans for the future and it’s ready to take off.”
Newton confirmed that the company is in the process of building a strong team to take Freshtime to the next level. “Bryan has extensive experience and in-depth knowledge of the food industry and will be a real asset to the company,” he said.
Freshtime employs over 300 people and supplies prepared vegetables and salads to multiple retailers and food service operators.
Pakistan’s projections of mango exports are set to stay largely unchanged from previous years, despite the EU ban on Indian mangoes
Pakistan’s mango exports are forecast to be valued at US$65m by the end of the season, only slightly higher than last year’s US$60m, said the Pakistan Fruit and Vegetable Exporters, Importers and Merchants Association (PFVA) in a statement released this week, according to the Express Tribune.
Despite the EU ban on Indian imports, the PFVA is not forecasted growth for its own mango exports, with the season due to begin 25 May. PFVA spokesman Waheed Ahmed told the Tribune that mango production would drop to 1.45m tonnes, from 1.85m tonnes in 2013, due to poor weather conditions hitting the country’s key mango producing regions.
Pakistan will now focus on quality not quantity of produce, said Ahmed, and would be looking to export to potential new markets of South Korea and Australia, and will continue trade with Europe, where it currently ships 24,000 mangoes annually.
Exports are still closed to the US and Japan, along with a severed trade agreement with Iran following US international sanctions, costing Pakistan US$10 in mango exports annually.
New entity will trade as Hortifrut Expofresh SA and will focus on development of early season blueberry varieties
Hortifrut has announced that it is to merge its Argentine operations with Expofresh to jointly develop exclusive early season blueberry varieties for international markets.
Announcing the union, which includes Expofresh’s Tucumán-based production units, Tierra de Berries and Tierra de Arándanos, the companies said it would allow the companies to share logistical synergies and improve levels of customer service.
Both companies will begin working together ahead of the 2014/15 season before the new venture, to be known as Hortifrut Expofresh SA, is formalised.
“This important partnership allows us to collaborate to strengthen the security of high quality early blueberry supply from Argentina to Hortifrut’s commercial platforms and its strategic customers, who will enjoy a better product and delivery service, which will mean more satisfied consumers,” Nicolás Moller, Hortifrut’s general manager said in a press release.
Referring to its new partner as an “inspirational” company, Expofresh president Luis D’Andrea said Argentina’s relatively young blueberry industry would benefit from the Chilean company’s expertise.
“Planning a future together with Hortifrut is challenging, but the shared synergies and access to better genetics will enable Argentine’s industry to grow,” he said.
The Tenderstem team will be sampling and talking to visitors at the Foodies Festival, Taste of London, and Carfest
Tenderstem is going on the road this summer, taking its ‘Tenderstem Around the World’ campaign to the people.
The Tenderstem team will be sampling and talking to visitors at the Foodies Festival (24–26 May), Taste of London (18-22 June), and making its debut at Carfest north and south in August.
The experienced marketing programme will showcase the versatility of Tenderstem, demonstrating how easy to prepare and quick to cook it is.
Michelle Toft, marketing manager for Coregeo, the UK’s master licensor for Tenderstem, said: “This is a great opportunity for us to speak to shoppers and show them why Tenderstem is such a great vegetable.
“Our ‘Around the World’ campaign is also a fun way to show people how easy it is to create tasty food with an ingredient that takes only a few minutes to cook.”
Chefs Mark Lloyd and Clover Hutson will host cooking demos on the Tenderstem stand, and visitors to the shows will be able to enjoy the results. The chefs will also challenge visitors to cook one of four dishes from around the world. No one will go away empty-handed with chopping boards, aprons and recipe books up for grabs
Steven Martina to head up retail sales operation after Cindy van de Velde decides to step down for “personal reasons”
Cindy van de Velde, recently appointed retail director at fresh fruit and vegetable marketer The Greenery, is to leave the company at the start of June, the group has confirmed.
Van de Velde was promoted in January as part of a major reorganisation of the group’s commercial operation, becoming vice-president of global retail sales having previously managed its business in the Benelux.
Steven Martina, who was appointed trade sales director at the same time, will assume responsibility for the retail side of the business at least in the short-term.
A spokesperson told Eurofruit that Van de Velde had decided to leave for “personal reasons” and not as a result of recent changes to its commercial strategy or indeed its poor financial performance over the past few years.
“The Greenery regrets this departure, because of the important role Cindy played in the development and implementation of the 2014-2018 strategy, which she still fully supports.”
Martina’s knowledge of the business would ensure a smooth transition, the spokesperson added: “As Steven and Cindy were jointly responsible for the commercial part of the strategy and were already working together closely, we do not expect any problems in our daily operation. Results up to now do still meet our expectations.”
Van de Velde is the second member of The Greenery’s senior management to leave in the past month, following the departure of chief financial officer Albert Knol in early May.
The company is currently being led by interim chief executive Okke Koo, who has overseen its recent restructuring – dubbed the Phoenix plan.
Earlier this year, the group blamed weak prices and increasing consolidation among European retailers for a fall in net turnover to €1.3bn last year, contributing to a net loss of €2m from its regular business operations.
Taking into account the cost of its reorganisation, that net loss increased to €21m in 2013.
‘Exceptional’ peaches buck the trend for declining export volumes in South African stonefruit with UK market as top destination
The UK has overtaken the Middle East as the largest export market for South African peaches for the first time.
The country’s total peach exports jumped by 14% for the 2013 season, up from 1,197,427 tonnes in 2011/2012 to 1,382,637t for 2012/2013.
Product manager for South African producer group, Hortgro, Jacques du Preez, said peaches had an “exceptional season”. “Cultivars which performed well are Temptation and Transvalia, Ambercrest with an increase in export volumes of 145%, 31% and 45% respectively,” he added.
The UK was also the largest export market for the country’s nectarines, and is the second largest destination for plums.
Du Preez said: “Nectarines exports to the UK were on par with the previous season, peaches up and plums down. But it should be kept in mind that record export volumes materialised during 2012/2013, and that climatic conditions were extremely challenging this season.”
Apricot exports fell by 13%, nectarines saw a drop of five per cent while plums shrank by 7%, according to a Hortgro export report for 2012/2013. Total stonefruit exports fell by 6%, although the average crop was realised at 16,943,133t.
Many South African fruit crops were devastated following severe hailstorms in November 2013, and du Preez said that while an average crop had been achieved, adverse weather has affected fruit quality.
“Plum and nectarine orchards in the Ceres and Klein Karoo regions were mainly affected by the hail,” he said. “Prolonged spring conditions and rain during the harvest season influenced the quality and volumes of the crop.”
He added that reasonable increases in export volumes for the 2014/2015 season can be expected as around a third of stonefruit orchards are not yet in full bearing.
Du Preez said a campaign promoting South African fruit – named ‘Beautiful Fruit Beautiful Country’ – has so far been very Eurocentric, but in future this will expand its focus to Asia and Africa.
He said: “A strategy is being setup to get a much closer relationship between market access and market development. These two will work hand in hand to ensure the opening up of and expanding of markets – firstly in the ME, FE and Africa, but also in other regions of Europe we haven’t been active in.”
Gist managing more than 25 different lines of In2food’s fruit pots from their arrival in the UK from South Africa by air
Gist has been awarded a two-year contract with In2food – formerly known as Spring Valley Foods – to manage the supply chain of its growing range of fresh fruit pots from the airport to retail stores in the UK and Europe.
South Africa-based In2food supplies prepared fruit mixes including mixes of melon, mango, passion fruit, pineapple, apple, citrus, kiwi, pineapple and grapes.
Gist is managing more than 25 different lines of fruit pots from their arrival in the UK from South Africa by air.
Despite the high levels of complexity involved, the team have worked to create what they hope is a time-efficient supply chain that delivers the fresh fruit products in the minimum of time, maximising the products’ shelf-life.
The fruit leaves South Africa to arrive ready for purchasing on retail shelves in the UK, Netherlands and France within 36 hours.
This process includes preparing customs documentation and customs clearance, picking up the product from the airlines and transporting it to Gist’s depot for processing, picking and delivering to retail stores.
In2food’s general manager, Peter Black, said: “Chilled fruit products require quick and efficient turnaround times from the airlines to the retail shelf, something that Gist can provide for us as a simple and complete package.”
Martin Gwynn, chief executive at Gist, said: “Gist’s global supply chain capability has a specialist focus on time and temperature critical products, well suited to In2food’s global movements of fresh prepared fruits into the UK.”
Political crisis halts growth in Russian and Ukraine in first quarter of 2014
The volume of Spanish fruit and vegetable exports increased by 0.5% in the first quarter of 2014 compared with the year-earlier period, reaching 3.4m tonnes, according to the latest figures from export federation Fepex. The value of exports rose by 1.4% to €3.172bn.
Fepex said the growth rate was lower than in previous years, due mainly to the political uncertainty in eastern Europe and a fall in the volume of oranges, mandarins and strawberries sold overseas. Overall, the volume of fruit exported fell by 10.7% to 1.6m tonnes, or €1.446bn (-4.8%) in value terms.
Vegetable exports increased by 7% in value and 13% in volume, reaching 1.8m tonnes with an equivalent sales value of €1.726bn. Tomatoes, peppers, lettuce and cucumbers are the main products exported during this period.
Exports to the European Union were broadly in line with the first quarter of 2013, rising 0.4% to 3.22m tonnes. Sendings to Russia and the Ukraine fell by 14% and 8% respectively due to the political turmoil in the region. While shipments to countries outside Europe grew by 16%, they still represent a tiny fraction of exports, totalling 97,409 tonnes, Fepex said. Overall, exports to non-EU markets grew by 1% to 262,948 tonnes.
Food industry support body will design and manage a programme to train more than 250 of Qatar’s food inspectors
Campden BRI has been chosen by the Qatar Supreme Council of Health to oversee an ambitious programme to improve the country’s food safety.
The UK-based food industry support body will manage and design a comprehensive programme to train over 250 of Qatar’s food inspectors via a series of intensive workshops.
The Risk-Based Food Safety Inspections Skills workshops, which will include both theoretical and practical elements, will run over 18 weeks throughout this year, and will be delivered in Arabic by Taylor Shannon International on behalf of Campden BRI.
Dr Anton Alldrick, special projects manager at Campden BRI, said the courses would emphasise the need to take a risk-based approach to food safety, from farm to table.
She added: “The inspectors will be reminded of the significant food safety hazards that can be associated with food, how these are prevented and what evidence the inspector should look for to ensure that food businesses are correctly managed.
“This will include ensuring that the food businesses have an appropriate understanding of international standards of food hygiene practice and food safety management systems.”
The head of Qatar’s National Committee for Food Safety, Dr Sheikh Mohamed al-Thani, said: “The training will help our inspectors understand the risks associated with various food items in the long term.
“We hope to provide the same level of competency to all inspectors, transfer knowledge from the West and make Qatar gain high international standards in food safety which is line with the Qatar National Vision 2030.”
Campden BRI provides technical, legislative and scientific support and research to the food and drinks industry worldwide, with a comprehensive ‘farm to fork’ range of services covering agri-food production, analysis and testing, processing and manufacturing, safety and training.