German agricultural politicians should take significantly more initiative to sign trade agreements for German fruit export in Asia: “If we do not get these agreements for Germany exporters as soon as possible, apple producers in our country will have serious problems within two years. This is the reason why politicians, economic and agricultural, in Germany should concentrate their efforts on such agreements,” states Klaus Josef Lutz, CEO of BayWa, just after the export contract concerning top fruit between Poland and Vietnam was signed. “Polish politicians have demonstrated that trade agreements can be negotiated and signed within one year, instead of years. German politicians can learn a lesson from this,” says Lutz. Poland already signed contracts like these with Canada, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria and Cyprus.
The export of Polish apples to Russia has been banned following the Ukraine crisis and the Russian embargo. At the same time, last year's harvest of apples in Europe put fruit prices under massive pressure across Europe and threatened the livelihoods of apple growers. “Although sellers and producers mastered this significant crisis, everybody understands how much we need sales opportunities in the growing Asian markets. Our New Zealand subsidiaries have already been successful in China and that shows us what kind of opportunities are possible here,” explains Lutz. German apple producers and sellers, however, do not have the possibility to export to Asia because of the lack of bilateral trade agreements between Germany and the Asian countries. “Other countries, for example the Netherlands, are already further in tackling this problem. This is shameful for an export nation such as Germany,” says Lutz.
BayWa
BayWa is an international trading and services group with core segments of agriculture, energy and building materials. The parent company was founded in 1923 and its head office is located in Munich. International activities are focused on Europe as well as the United States and New Zealand.
BayWa generates its biggest revenues in the agriculture sector. The energy sector is the second largest segment and includes the international business of renewable energy. BayWa ranks among the leading suppliers of building materials in Germany and Austria. Overall, the company generated revenues of around 15 billion Euro and an EBIT of 146.8 million Euro in 2014.
In the national and international fruit trade, BayWa achieved an EBIT of 25.6 million Euro in 2014. The area of top fruit alone had a sales volume of nearly 195,000 metric tons.
