November and early December are usually quite busy for Tovano, a nut and dried fruit company based in Maasdijk, The Netherlands, "But this is not a defining period for us. We distinguish ourselves with year round nuts and dried fruit, and we work with top brands like Medjoul-dates from Golden Dates, figs from Ephesus and walnuts from Diamond," says Richard Strijbis.
Tovano's products find their way to retail organizations in the Netherlands and abroad, exporters in the fresh produce sector, industrial food processing companies, wholesalers and itinerant trade.
This does not take away from Tovano's purchasers who supply their customers with more nuts and dried fruit during the winter months, "In particular, raw, shelled nuts are on the rise. Each year we sell more shelled walnuts, Brazil nuts, pecan nuts and almonds. We import these nuts from Eastern Europe, Chile and the U.S., and each place has its own price," says Richard.
The new crop of unshelled walnuts has arrived from California, "We used to only have one kind of walnut, but now we have eight different kinds in our warehouse. The harvest has been good this year, large volumes are coming in, which means better prices than last year," says Richard.
"Apricots, dates and figs are also popular, along with the Medjoul-dates. We supply these in a variety of packages, ranging from small to bulk."
The hype for super foods like chia seeds, hemp seeds and goji berries has calmed down, "We have always said: we will continue supplying them as long as there is demand, but it is very different from nuts."
