More than two years ago, Roelant Komen, José Cubero, Erik Rustenburg, and Yesy Lalupu founded BeFair Bio. Today, a team in Peru and Poeldijk is ready to supply the European market with organic fruit from overseas. "More than half of our volume comes from Peru," says Lalupu.
The overseas organic citrus season is currently in full swing. "It's a completely different season from last year," observes Roelant Komen. "Back then, we faced a surplus of European lemons and oranges, and demand for overseas organic citrus came late. Demand didn't really kick in until August, which was a month and a half too late for the premium fruit. This year, things have gone well right from the start."
BeFair Bio works with a South African organic grower with whom the team has had a partnership for over 25 years. "There are only a few organic citrus growers in South Africa, and this supplier offers a strong range of organic lemons, oranges, and grapefruit, which we can continue to grow within the coming years," says Roelant. Additionally, the company is importing citrus from Chile for the second year, especially for the later part of the season. "There is still plenty of room for growth in that, too."
Roelant Komen and Bert van Leeuwen of BeFair Bio
Surprisingly good West African mango season
"The market for organic avocados has been under considerable pressure, although it hasn't dropped as far as the conventional market. There was a strong surge in supply from Peru, which was lower last year due to El Niño, but we got through it well by only importing what we could sell," Roelant explains. In contrast, the West African mango season is going very well. "We are very pleased with the quality, demand, and volumes. We're currently in the Senegalese season and are seeing good demand, few quality claims, and strong grower prices."
For ginger, BeFair Bio's third product group, demand typically slows during the summer. It usually picks up again after the holidays. The overseas organic topfruit season is going well. "We're now receiving the last containers of pears from Argentina. Since stocks in Europe were low and Argentina sent many large sizes to the U.S., the market remained empty, and prices stayed high. Apples are also starting to improve," Roelant observes.
Expanding the product range is not on the table for now, says the importer. "We prefer to focus on growing within our existing product groups, as we still see a lot of potential there. This includes ginger from Brazil and oranges from South America. We've also started our own grapefruit planting in Peru, filling a gap in August and September when there is hardly any grapefruit on the market. But it will still be two to three years before we can expect the first volumes."
Own office in Peru
BeFair now has its own office in Peru, staffed by around 10 people. "Since last year, we've had our own mango production, and we want to expand that further. In addition to growing grapefruit, we also want to grow avocados ourselves. Our colleagues in Peru support growers, help with certifications, and manage exports. They also oversee our social projects. We're very happy with this setup and recently showed our appreciation by offering all employees, both in Peru and Poeldijk, a share in the company," says Roelant.
Germany is by far BeFair Bio's largest market, but the company also supplies supermarkets and wholesalers in France, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Belgium. "We barely reach southern Europe. Sales to Eastern Europe are also somewhat disappointing. In Poland, we are seeing some progress in organics, so that market may develop further in the coming years." Overall demand for organic products is developing positively, according to the importer. "We've seen strong demand recently. The period when inflation weighed on organic sales is really behind us."
Although local produce is high on the wish list for organic consumers, Roelant believes there will always be space for overseas fruit. "Some customers do stretch local sourcing to the very end. That's of course their right, but it makes it harder to pinpoint when overseas demand will take off – after all, our products are in transit for several weeks." Air freight is used only occasionally. "We only do it on request, but last year, for instance, there was hardly any turmeric available. We had it shipped by sea for 50 weeks, and for those two weeks we used air freight to maintain a year-round supply."
Logistics biggest challenge
Asked about the company's five-year plan, Roelant says they have no ambition to grow to 100 employees or build their own warehouse. "We're very happy with Van den Bos as our logistics partner – it's just 100 metres away, so we're always close to our product." He says logistics remains the biggest challenge. "At the end of this year's Peru season, we had a mango shipment delayed by three and a half weeks. That's beyond your control, but you can't deliver the product anymore, and then you have to sell a lot of mangoes just to make up for the loss. I hope that one day insurers will step up and offer coverage for such situations."
When asked how the company differentiates itself, Roelant replies, "By always being honest, even when it's difficult. That's not always easy, but it's the best way forward. With organic cultivation, the risk of quality issues is simply higher. We don't choose to hold on to product longer than ideal just to stretch the season – sometimes it's better to pause for a bit and still deliver good quality. And we always try to keep our promises, even when things go wrong. That pays off, because we've found that organic customers are quite loyal if you serve them well."
For more information
Roelant Komen
BeFair Bio
ABC Westland 305
2685 DD Poeldijk
Tel: +31 (0)174 257 213
Mob: +31 (0)6 1907 5650
[email protected]
www.befairbio.com