Spain: expert urges the berry sector to adapt to new consumer models to "be competitive"
José María O'Kean offered the inaugural lecture at the IV International Congress of Red Fruits, held at the Casa Colón in Huelva, Spain and which was attended by the Regional Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Development, Rodrigo Sánchez Haro, among other authorities.
In this sense, he explained that berry producers must offer "sensations", more than products themselves, since "for the neo-consumer the important thing is not to have things, but to feel them". The professor used the strawberry as an example. "You have to ask the consumer how they want the strawberry they want to eat to be, and for this we have to have a lot of prior information with the new technologies, otherwise we would be wrong," he said.
As an important part of this process, the Economics professor has encouraged the berry sector "to fully enter 4.0 and new technologies, filling the fields with sensors and drones that allow us to have adequate control so that the final product is of the highest quality.
INTERNATIONAL MARKETS FOR ENERGY STORAGE
The most international side of the Congress was present at the day with examples of production, import and export of berries in countries such as the United Kingdom, China, the United Arab Emirates and Germany.
In this way, the presentation 'Trends and opportunities with global and European retail and e-commerce', presented by Pierre Escodo, editor of the magazine 'Eurofresh Distribution', gave the congressmen the opportunity to learn about the current situation in such important markets for berries such as the British and Chinese.
Sabina Wyant, berry manager of the Tesco chain, has highlighted the fact that the red fruit market had increased by 51 percent in the United Kingdom in the last five years thanks, above all, to "genetic improvements and new varieties”. In addition, she has emphasized that the British consumer "is very demanding", for which she has encouraged to offer products "sustainable with the environment and great taste".
The emerging Chinese market was present at the Congress by Qidong Zhu, vice president of the Shezhen-based firm Pagoda, who pointed out that blueberry production has had a "very rapid development" since it was introduced in his country. in 2001.
Zhu has assured that for Chinese consumers, taste is a "primordial" fact, and that the main problems faced by production in this country is the need to establish their own brands and varieties, as well as to seek better sales channels. and distribution.
For his part, Martín Jorge Aguirre, from the company Spinneys Dubai, spoke about the complicated market of the United Arab Emirates for the export of berries due to its special climatic conditions. Thus, he has indicated that this country imports 98 percent of the berries it consumes and has stated that the main challenges are "maintaining the cold chain, selecting the appropriate varieties, fruit in an adequate state of maturity, and efficiency in packaging and air transport”. In addition, he has assured that Spain, in order to gain that market, faces the challenge "of being identified by a premium country of origin".
The German market, the main buyer of berries from Spain, was present at the Congress in the hands of Hand Widmann and Mathias Hundhausen, representatives of the companies Herbert Widmann and Nordgemüse Krogmann. Widmann has assured that Spain's main challenge is to "produce good quality berries at a moderate cost, since only in this way will it be able to stop the strong competition it is having from Portugal and Morocco."
For his part, Hundhausen has remarked that the sensitivity of the German consumer "is increasing considerably", especially with regard to "taste and appearance", for which reason he has urged producers to work in this direction.
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