A number ofGreek companies are actively involved with the promotion of Greek kiwifruit onthe international market. The promotion campaign is called “Premium EuropeanKiwi” and is funded by both the European Union and the Greek government. Theaim of the campaign is to improve brand awareness of Greek kiwis on marketslike Canada,Chinaand the United Arab Emirates. Thecompanies involved are Agricultural Cooperative of Chrisochori NESPAR,Agricultural Association NESTOS, Alkyon SA, and Goustera SA. These companiesare now actively looking for partnerships and distribution channels in Canada. Forthis purpose, these companies were represented at the SIAL convention in Canada.
The Greek companies havebeen positive about the outcome of these events.
According to NESPAR, beingpart of Premium European Kiwi helps the company in a number of ways. “For one,we now have the opportunity to take part in some of the biggest fruitexhibitions,” says Konstantinos Maragkozis of NESPAR. “This has both opened newmarkets for us and reinforced our position on our current markets.
Since all four companies in this campaign share the same objectives, thereisn’t any competition between all involved parties. “Our common goal is toraise awareness for Greek kiwis. We’ve had an amicable cooperation so far. Ourmain competition really comes from kiwi producers in other countries,” saysMaragkozis.
Anastasios Karkatzolos ofNESTOS agrees. “New markets like the Far East,the Gulf Area and North Amerikca are huge. Butwith the right promotion campaign, our own experience and the excellent qualityof our fruit we’ll be able to achieve great things.”
Like Maragkozis, Karkatzolos doesn’t consider the other greek companies asrivals. “This consortium is strong and unifies the same principles of allparticipating companies. This means we haven’t had any conflicts whatsoever. OtherGreek companies have been involved in other promotion campaigns as well, but weall share the same interest: to make the name of Greek kiwis into a strongerbrand,” says the director of NESTOS.
Dimitris Loutsigkas ofGoustera SA hopes that the campaign will lead to new customers and stablerelationships. “This campaign was like a crash course. We’ve learnt in shorttime what kind of products or services these new markets demand.
According to Loutsigkas, animportant reason why the four participating companies needn’t be afraid ofinternal competition is due to the sizes of the new markets. “There is enoughspace in the new markets for all Greek and European companies who want toexport high quality products. Our own company is small enough to find its ownstable place within any big market. This should be an opportunity for growthfor everyone involved.”
Achileas Penlioglou ofAlkyon SA sees the level of cooperation between the companies as a huge benefitof itself. “We’ve already built up a strong foundation for cooperation betweenour companies. So we were already quite able to avoid any sort of conflict. Themain challenge came with the particularities of each new market,” saysPenlioglou.
European countries likeItaly Greece and France are among the biggest kiwi-producing regions in theworld. Europe produced a volume of 632.700tons of kiwifruit in 2014, which was exported to over 51 nations worldwide.
For more information:
Anta Tsaira
WIN Development Consultants
Tel 0030-2321-302022
Email: [email protected]
www.winconsulting.gr
Author: Peter Duivenvoorde / Yzza Ibrahim