Carsol Fruit and its plans in the supply of fruit
Carsol Fruit is a Chilean company that produces, exports and sells blueberries. With a strong productive base of its own, which tries to differentiate itself from the traditional export model, its strategy has been to develop plantations in Chile as well as in third countries to reach the 52 supply weeks.
"Today we have five months and a fraction from our plantations [Chile], but we have added commercial relationships with producers in Argentina, Uruguay, Peru, Spain, Morocco, France, Germany and Poland, so as to complete the complete supply cycle during the 52 weeks ", commented to Portalfruticola.com, Patricio Tellechea, general manager of Carsol Fruit.
It should be noted that within its portfolio, Carsol Fruit also has kiwis.
In the 52 weeks plan, Peru has been identified by the company as an important supply component.
"Peru looks out for its productive, climatic characteristics, as a good complement. The truth that Peru has the potential to produce practically at any time of the year. You have to know how, but today that technique is also being developed "said Tellechea.
"Considering that it may be a contribution at the beginning of the Chilean season (from August-September to October-November), we decided to start a joint venture with a Peruvian company that produces and nurses", detailed the general manager.
The company in question is Inka's Berries, with a long history in the production of plants and agricultural production. With it, Carsol Fruit already has 50 hectares in the Huaura Valley, about 50 km north of Lima.
"We are starting an experience that I think is going to expand this year. They are projects of 200-300 hectares and with the potential to distribute that production in many months of the year, when required "he said.
"That's the great thing about Peru, which can be adapted to the commercial needs of commercial offices".
Among the plans in the neighboring country is to have a purchase office -Carsol Peru- that would complement Carsol Europe.
"We are also in frank evaluation of a future Carsol USA, because our strategy is to approach the supermarkets and it has to be done in the different markets", Tellechea announced to Portalfruticola.com.
European market
In October 2013 started its operations Carsol Europe, the company's commercial subsidiary in the old continent.
"This is going to be our third season in Europe. The first year we had a strong support of the fruit from Chile and the second one with a little more volume of our alliances in Uruguay and Argentina ", said Horacio Ozer Ami, general manager of Carsol Europe.
Since last year the subsidiary has developed alliances with local producers and supplies from Spain, France and Germany, in order to meet the needs of customers.
"Our customers buy blueberries all year round, so as long as we can develop that supply we can meet their needs with a unique standard of quality and with a known track record"commented Ozer Ami to our environment.
"We define ourselves as specialists in blueberries and from our know how we look for a service tailored to the customer. That is the definition of Carsol Europe, a service closer to the end customer and more directly to retail accounts ", Agregó.
He explained that the blueberry market continues to grow strongly in Europe. Even in markets considered "mature" there is still room for the product.
«In markets like the United Kingdom and Germany we thought there was no more space, but reality is saying that is not the case. “There is significant growth to come in those markets.”He said.
"In turn, what has happened in Europe is that markets that were not consuming blueberries have been discovering them and have begun to consume them basically in the local station. Now they are also consuming them in the Southern Hemisphere station. "
Ozer Ami explained that markets such as Poland - a country that has a tradition in berries - has 7 a thousand hectares of planted blueberries, a production that has boosted local consumption "And from that the consumer is wanting to consume out of season."
In turn, the economic growth of Eastern European countries is "feeding" the consumption of blueberries. There has also been significant growth in Scandinavia.
"What we see is that we are still far from the potential. All this market is growing based on a product of good quality, a product that the consumer wants to continue buying because he really had a satisfactory consumption experience "He said.
Markets and innovation
According to Tellechea, the US campaign it should be normal in destination prices, without large upward or downward variations.
In the case of Europe, Ozer Ami points out that there is still domestic fruit, basically from Poland and some food from the Netherlands. However, there will be an almost perfect continuity with the fruit of Argentina and Uruguay, as long as the climate does not delay production in South America.
"The current situation is that there is already availability of fruit from Peru that did not exist in previous seasons and that this year has helped make this transition much more coordinated", he said.
The company's strategy is to arrive with a product as standardized as possible and of the best quality, adjusting to the requirements of customers in terms of packaging.
In that sense, Carsol Fruit is specifying for this season an investment close to USD 4 million in the installation and infrastructure of a packing that would stand out as the most modern, with the largest capacities in Latin America and one of the largest in the arandanera industry .
"We hope it has a capacity of more than 7 thousand tons of process in the Chilean season, which will allow us to process our production that points to those numbers"said Tellechea.
"The packing has substantial improvements in process temperatures from the moment the fruit enters the packing - bringing it between 2 and 4°C -, processing it with great agility on the same day of harvest and packaging practically in an automated way."
“Everything is through a software for the detection of defects (soft sorter) so that the fruit that is exported is increasingly homogeneous. We hope to get a better quality product at the end of the line and with conditions to be able to transport it in the best possible way. An improvement that should materialize in greater customer satisfaction "He said.
Source: Fruit Portal
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