“Over the course of the last few years, Prim'land has grown considerably,” said Jean-Baptiste Pinel, sales office managing director for Prim'land. Prim'land, which is a subsidiary of Scaap Kiwifruits de France, is the sales arm of France Adour Kiwi Alliance, a French growers cooperatives organisation. All told, the amount of fruit Prim'land brings to market every year is about 30 percent of France's total kiwi output. Their prominent market position has been achieved, in large part, on the back of their signature Oscar brand kiwi, which was developed over 30 years ago.
“We're planning to bring 17,000 tons of kiwifruit to market during the 2013-2014 season,” said Pinel. “That makes us the leading French kiwi provider.” Over half of that will go to the European market, but Prim'land wants to move into more markets overseas. They already have a precedent for global expansion, as they were the first French supplier to ship kiwis to South Korea.
“For over 20 years, Prim'land has been expanding and working to integrate itself into key markets,” said Pinel. They've done that the same way they've become the largest French kiwi supplier – on the strength of their strong logistics capabilities and their attention to quality, with ISO 9001, Certification Conformité Produit, IGP Kiwi de l’Adour, Label Rouge, Organic, and Global GAP, BRC, Agriconfiance® certifications. They've also expanded their product line to include the early green kiwifruit Summerkiwi™ and the kiwiberry Nergi®. But most crucially, Pinel said they continually work to meet client needs.
“Client satisfaction is central to Prim’land’s business strategy,” he said. “A supply chain manager is responsible for improving management of the kiwifruit supply chain: every stage of the logistics process is optimized, notably conditions for cultivation, harvest planning and work in the packing stations, in order to improve the company’s economic efficiency and the quality of the produce."
