Fruit via air freight is increasingly being criticised these days, which is why some food retail chains stop having fruit flown in. Nevertheless, papayas, mangosteen, and the like continue to enjoy unbroken high demand from quality-conscious European consumers, observes Lorenz Hartmann de Barros, exotic fruit importer and Managing Director of HLB Tropical Food GmbH. To mark the 35th anniversary of the family business, FreshPlaza travelled to Kelsterbach to talk about the opportunities and challenges of importing exotics.
The father of the current Managing Director started out by importing tree-ripened tropical fruits, particularly papayas, from his homeland Brazil. In 2011, the growing company moved into a new location including cold storage space in Kelsterbach, in the immediate vicinity of Frankfurt Airport, so that the goods arriving by air could be picked and distributed as quickly as possible. "Papaya is still our main product. For some years now, we haven't been working with Golden Papayas, but with Formosa and, for the past seven years, with our exclusive Samba variety. The latter variety is characterised by its firm, dark flesh, high Brix value and unbeatable aftertaste. This eating quality was also particularly important to us. We want to offer the consumer a great experience to incentivise repeat purchases. So it's a matter close to my heart to bring something exciting here," says Hartmann de Barros.
Lorenz Hartmann de Barros has been at the helm of HLB Tropical Food GmbH as Managing Director for five years now and is the second generation to run the company. The company supplies the European markets (including Germany, the UK, and the Netherlands) either directly by 'dropship' or from the warehouse in Kelsterbach.
In addition to consistently high quality, the ability to deliver all year round is almost a basic requirement today. "With papayas, we have the advantage that we can source them from Brazil 12 months a year. With the other fruits, we follow the season, so to speak, and procure our exotic fruits from different countries depending on the time of year. We are very critical of our producers and regularly visit them to enquire about important issues such as quality management and residue analysis. This is the only way we can guarantee continuous, consistent quality."
With the 'Samba' papaya, HLB has set new standards on the exotic fruit shelf. The flavoursome fruit is sourced exclusively from selected, long-standing growers in Brazil. Freight rates have recently normalised again and are now close to pre-corona levels.
High demand for fruit exotics
As part of the increasing awareness of sustainability, several leading retail chains are already trying to reduce the proportion of airfreight. Hartmann de Barros: "In some markets, this has already led to a situation where there are hardly any ripe exotics, as only shipments are being offered. However, we are constantly receiving enquiries from consumers who would like to buy our tree-ripened papayas. This means that there is still a demand for air exotics. Air freight does not necessarily have a larger carbon footprint compared to sea transport: In practice, these are passenger flights that are topped up with fruit. So we fill the flight so that it doesn't fly empty, which unfortunately is often not taken into account. What's more, we now only use cardboard boxes without lids so that we can save on packaging material and make optimum use of the available storage space. All in the spirit of sustainability."
In addition to the sustainability issue, the reduction in purchasing power due to inflation is often cited as an inhibiting factor for the exotic market. "True to the motto 'Trust is our currency', it is extremely important to offer exciting goods with good flavour, especially in times of inflation. Only when we show customers that we have a personal passion for the product and stand behind our fruit can we create a certain level of trust. We don't just sell the goods, we also approach customers proactively by advising them on the organisation of promotions and informing them at the end how the campaign has gone. Overall, we are not seeing a decline in demand, quite the opposite: Since corona, people have been travelling via their palates, which continues to benefit sales of exotic products. In this respect, we are still seeing some growth."
Papaya as a promotional product
With the start of school and autumn, it is again a good time to run promotions and offer the goods at affordable prices. "There are currently similar promotions for other exotic fruits, such as mangosteen. We are also noticing that producers are particularly willing to export. They are reluctant to sit on their produce, as it is difficult to sell the entire volume on the local market and the prices are much more attractive when exporting. Apart from these promotions, the price level remains almost constant throughout the year, which is ultimately in the interests of all those involved," he concludes.
Lorenz Hartmann de Barros at this year's Fruit Logistica, where the company exhibited together with its American colleagues from HLB Specialties LLC. In addition to papayas, the wide-ranging portfolio includes rambutan, mangosteen, guava, selected mango varieties and pitahaya.
For more information:
Lorenz Hartmann de Barros
HLB Tropical Food GmbH
Am Weiher 2a
65451 Kelsterbach
Tel: +49-6107-98781 0
Fax: +49-6107-98781 14
[email protected]
www.hlbtropical.com