The Greek company Soulis, which attended Thessaloniki’s recent Freskon 2015, is devoted to the marketing of machinery and packaging articles for fruit and vegetables. To this end, Managing Director Ioannis Stogios affirms that “We collaborate with Dr. Ioannis S. Minas (Pomologist & Postharvest Physiologist), a scientist previously worked at University of California at Davis and Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, looking for solutions to improve fruit and vegetable storage and marketing potential and consumer quality as well.”
At the fair, the firm presented a new pallet bag, in partnership with TransFresh, its European distributor in Greece. “It is a new form of packaging in Greece, although it is already used for shipments from South America to Europe and Asia. With it, you don’t need a bag for every carton box, but one suffices for the whole pallet of perishable products allowing safe shipments to distant markets,” he explains.
Furthermore, capitalising on current trends, Soulis has also started research to create an organic bag that can be placed on every peach fruit during development on the trees of organic crops. According to Mr Stogios, “Tests will be conducted to determine whether sizes increase, thus improving production volumes per tree, and the results of these tests will be available in September.”
The company’s export business focuses on the shipment of plastic materials manufactured in Skydra-Pella, northern Greece. “We manufacture plastic punnets, lids & trays for fruits and vegetables, edge protectors for pallets, plastic crates and carton trays,” says Mr Stogios. “Packing houses receive requests from supermarkets, which then estimate the costs and offer them solutions.”
When asked about the impact of the Russian embargo, Mr Stogios assures that while it didn’t affect plastics, it did however cause many troubles to its clients, who have been forced to seek alternative channels. “Greek exports have been reduced, but the situation will eventually be resolved, and this will result in a better position for Greek growers, wholesalers, packing houses and everyone in the chain.”
For more information:Soulis ABEE
Ioannis Stogios
tel 0030 23810 82400
cel 0030 6977 577627
email [email protected]
www.soulis.gr
Author: Juan Zea Estellés / Yzza Ibrahim