That the organic sector is growing, is no news. The high demand in countries like Sweden and other Scandinavian countries is widely known. Importers of organic, tropical fruit and exotics see demand increase in those segments as well, although there are challenges, for instance in ripening. Peter Abma of Fairtrasa and Ronald Vianen of BioTropic talk about the developments.
European demand increasing
In the Scandinavian countries, organic is taking over the position of conventional. In Sweden, often pointed to as an example, the growth in organic went hand in hand with negative reports on conventional products. “In some media, for instance, the banana was branded a product full of poison,” Peter knows. “I don’t regret organic growing because of that, but it was over the top.” At BioTropic, Ronald sees that in addition to these markets, France and Austria are also growing rapidly. “It’s mostly the conventional supermarkets expanding the organic product range. From the discounters to the top of the segment, organic is gaining ground.”
Ripening a challenge
“Ripening avocados from Peru takes two to three days longer than the conventional ones. In addition, organic requires more attention,” Peter explains. Because Fairtrasa works with a lot of small growers, the fruit on a pallet comes from different growers, and varies in its degree of ripeness. This means that to ripen a product properly, more attention is needed for the various batches.
“We’ve been ripening bananas ourselves for years,” Ronald says. “For other products, clients tell us it’s a challenge, but we are convinced it will be successful. There’s more intuition involved.” BioTropic works with its own production, including about 100 hectares of bananas and 70 hectares of pineapples. “In addition, we work with eight agronomists, who advise the producers in cultivation worldwide.”
Niche within a niche
In addition to tropical fruit, BioTropic also includes exotics in its product range, such as maracuja, passion fruit, apple banana, carambola and pitahaya. “We are working hard on further expanding the product range.” That organic exotics are a niche within a niche, doesn’t matter. “A niche can also become big. When the first kiwis came to the Netherlands, we also thought that was a special product. Now they’re here to stay.”
