TRADE AND MARKETING Fruit Logistica fully homing in on product concepts Results from collaboration Is the presence of Van Rijn KWS in Berlin a home or an away match? Ernst Arn, who works at the Dutch-German joint venture, doesn’t seem too concerned. What he clearly sees are the advantages of the close collaboration between the potato specialist and the beet breeder. Collaboration means that expensive technology and know-how can achieve faster variety development. One of the first fruits to be reaped is the Everest variety. ‘This sturdy potato variety is particularly suitable for hot countries where the Spunta variety is the norm. At this moment, we have more demand than supply’, says Arn with great pleasure. And yet, the success of the demand is not the result of the collaboration with KWS. Van Rijn has a particularly strong card with his complete Potato/ Vegetable/Fruit company. ‘We are the only integrated agricultural trading company in the world. As a result we are able to offer our customers a wide network, which is becoming increasingly important’, Arn tells us. ‘We supply a lot of vegetables and fruit from the Middle East. For example: due to the enormous turmoil in the region, the Swiss supermarket organisation Migros not only wants to supply fresh potatoes from Israel, but also from the Arabic markets. Especially in the French-speaking region of Switzerland, consumers think this an important action. We can meet such a demand without any problem due to our close collaboration with the Egyptian Daltex. Another part of the world that Van Rijn KWS focuses on is South America. KWS has been active there for quite some time now, and Arn expects that, as a result of the joint venture, Van Rijn’s activities will also prosper and grow. What he notices is a strong increase in service provision in this part of the world. ‘You see more and more chip factories becoming active in this region. They don’t want to specialise in the cultivation and storage of potatoes, but like to focus on the core competence, the production and marketing of processed potato products. In this area, we are already providing the potatoes for a few potato processors.’ Pommonde among the winners If you are awarded a nomination at an important show like Fruit Logistica, you will naturally want everyone to know about it. That’s why the HZPC stand shouts out that the Pommonde taste concept has been nominated for the prestigious Innovation Award. ‘From the 60 entries, 10 have been nominated, among which Pommonde’, tells the proud communications manager Douwe Lodewijk. The taste concept has been available on the Dutch market in the Albert Heijn supermarkets since November 2008. Pommonde is available in four different tastes: Fine, Lite, Bite and Ripe. This division is based on the outcome of extensive international consumer research. ‘Continuity and consistency are the key words for the success of the taste programme’, according to Lodewijk. ‘Because of this, we continue to take samples during the growing season and during storage and test them for taste and texture characteristics. The 50,000 visitors or more visitors who attended Fruit Logistica this year voted for the Innovation Award. When the votes had been counted, the taste concept appeared to have reached second place. For HZPC, together with the Pommonde packaging company Nedato and supermarket Albert Heijn, the silver medal is confirmation that consistency in the taste of potatoes is of major importance. ‘It is an important step towards a better connection between the wishes of the consumer and the supply of potatoes’, explains Lodewijk. To bring us up to date, he shows us the very latest packaging of the Pommonde concept. ‘As we know, innovation must move on.’ The virginal white background colour has been replaced by black in the new concept. ‘This is to give the product a more elegant look.’ 12 Potato World 2010 • number 2 Pagina 11
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