The CBI recently organized a Market Orientation Mission for Colombian Tropical and Exotic Fresh Fruit producers which took place in the Netherlands and Spain from 26 October through 1 November.
Since 1990 CBI has been organizing training programmes on international marketing and management with a focus on doing business with Europe. The Market Orientation Mission Tropical & Exotic Fresh Fruit Colombia is part of the 4-year CBI Country Programme Colombia. Participating companies produce all kinds of (semi)-tropical and exotic fruits, such as papaya, (purple) passion fruit, physalis, granadilla, guanabana, Tahiti limes, granadilla and (Hass) avocado, which all have very good quality standards. The objective of the mission was to familiarize the participants with the EU market and train them on export marketing, management and promotion techniques relevant to these markets.
The seven participating companies had the chance to visit and get to know relevant companies in the fresh fruit business in the Netherlands and Spain. The Market Orientation Mission provided the participants with various sector-specific training sessions, including themes such as EU market and industry structure, developments and trends, buying strategies, promotional instruments, preparation for trade fairs, distribution structures and sustainability. Part of the Market Orientation Mission training was the visit to a trade fair, Fruit Attraction in Madrid. Next to this, various company visits were scheduled, varying from importers and distributors to packing/handling companies and retailers.
They were provided with presentations by representatives from leading Dutch company's, along with a panel discussion held on October 27th in Rotterdam. Importers of Exotic and Tropical Fruit were present and presentations were given by Koen Maes (Special Fruit) and Cindy van Rijswick (Rabobank Food & Agribusiness Research and Advisory). The event was closed with an interactive discussion about “The consumer of the future” and a network session.
During the whole week, the companies were accompanied by representatives of CBI partner organisations ProColombia, Asohofrucol and Analdex in order to organise follow-up activities when they get back to Colombia and support the companies when the CBI programme comes to an end. One of the follow-up activities after the mission is that the companies will start the process to obtain GLOBALG.A.P. certification. Overall, the companies considered the mission a very interesting week which provided them with useful insights and tools to further develop their strategies for the European market.
