In 2010 Robbie Bloemendaal left for Romania to start The Greenery Central Europe for his then employer The Greenery. When the company decided to close the location during the reorganisation last year, the trader took over the activities under the name Total Fresh. The company imports the full fruit and vegetable package for the local supermarkets from Bucharest and also focusses on the sales of local product.
Left: Robbie Bloemendaal, right his son on the wholesale market
"We have been working with most Romania retailers since 2007. Before Romania entered the EU in 2007 a large part of the fruit and vegetable sales still took place through vegetables stores. Now most goes through the supermarkets. All large supermarkets such as the Schwarz Group, Rewe, Delhaize and Carrefour are present here. The fruit and vegetable consumption is at a high level in Romania, so the chances on the local market are big," says Robbie.
"From September to July we import almost the entire fruit and vegetable assortment from the Netherlands, Spain and Poland, in which open ground vegetables, greenhouse vegetables and exotics are the bulk. Over the course of past years the local cultivation has increased considerably, as in other Central European countries. Local product comes on the market in May and due to the recent good weather there is currently still local product on the market. But year round cultivation isn't viable here, it's too expensive in the winter and there aren't enough storage options."
Trade
"The largest cultivations here are tomatoes, pointed peppers, cucumber, mini cucumber, apples and open ground products. But quality wise it isn't possible to supply all markets with Romanian product, which means we continue to import the Dutch and Polish tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and aubergines in the summer. You do see more dedication to quality whereas everything used to be accepted," says Robbie. "At the moment we are busy setting up direct lines from Spain and South Africa."
"With our location in Bucharest and Medias at Ro Holland Transport we have an advantage for our Romanian buyers. We are close to our customers, can respond quickly and deal with local currency. It is also an advantage that we know the local market. The main competition is from a number of large Turkish players. They have low transport costs and of course also a large fruit and vegetable assortment behind them."
Total Fresh Office
Robbie looks towards the future of Total Fresh with confidence: "There are enough opportunities to grow here. We are already exporting a wide variety of apples, plums, cherries, watermelons, tomatoes and cucumbers from Romania. The biggest challenge is to play a larger role in the local production, both towards the export markets and the local supermarkets."