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There is a very high demand for carrots, although we do not yet have German goods available. Currently, we receive carrots from Italy," informs Lance Sidio, who has been working at the fair-certified and public welfare-balanced Naturkost Elkerhausen GmbH since 2005.
"One of the large producing companies from the region and cooperation partner of us, the Biolandhof Müller-Oelbke, can deliver carrots from previous season from the region until the beginning of June. We therefore only have to bridge the gap between June to max. August before the first carrots arrive from southern Germany." Furthermore, Sidio talked to us about the import business of the organic company from Göttingen.
Extending the European apple season
In 2022, the organic wholesale company was able to offer carrots from Germany for pretty much the entire year. In only six weeks carrots from Italy and partly from Spain had to be offered. "We also offer apples from the Alte Land almost all year round. Overseas produce can only be found in small quantities with us, something from Chile and Argentina and small parts from New Zealand. The European apple season is now much longer than it was a few years ago, due to the high harvest volumes as well as modern storage capacities such as ultra-low oxygen storage. This means we can offer apples from German production for almost eleven, and in some cases even twelve, months of the year."
Meanwhile, the company also sources significantly more produce from South America than from Oceania. Apart from kiwis, the company hardly buys any produce from New Zealand anymore. "We try to buy as much as possible from regional or German production. At the same time, as a wholesaler, we are also obliged to be able to supply the basics. For example, you can find mangoes from Spain in our assortment, but also from Peru."
Widely spread, international purchasing
The company sources a large part of its vegetables from Italy from Sicily, while pome fruits are mainly purchased from northern Italy. "The consequences of climate change lead to a very fluctuating situation in Sicily. For example, it has been so hot in the meantime that almost nothing has grown, although there have also been repeated periods of major rainfall. The drought in Spain leads to the danger that some farms will possibly have to stop their work completely. At the same time, we have learned that there has been more rainfall in Greece. We have spread our international purchasing very widely so that we always have goods available despite all the circumstances," says Sidio. Together with Naturkost Erfurt GmbH, which is also part of the company, Naturkost Elkershausen GmbH supplies food to large parts of northern and eastern Germany.
Lower price premiums
The ten percent drop in sales in the natural food retail sector continues to be felt, he said. "We work with food retailers almost not at all. Our main customers are specialist retailers and delivery services. With the latter customer segment, we can even report higher sales. We have adjusted our prices downward to give our customers the opportunity to continue to exist. After all, we also compete with conventional food retailers. While prices are generally higher due to inflation, markups are lower than in the last two years."
Price more decisive than taste and appearance
Premium goods are a tougher sell at the moment, he said. "You can tell that customers have become much more price-sensitive. Before the pandemic, the focus was on the taste and appearance of the products, which is why you could sell the goods at high prices," he notes. "If you offer several options of one product in parallel, consumers usually go for the cheaper product." At the same time, he says, prices in the organic segment have remained relatively stable, compared to the highly fluctuating prices in the conventional segment.
Reusable crates instead of plastic disposable packaging
In sales, he said, the company mainly uses reusable crates, such as IFCO's Lift-Lock crates, as well as containers from Euro Pool System. "When I started in 2015, 80 percent of international goods were marketed using cardboard boxes, which is no longer the case. However, 90, if not 100 percent, of regional goods have always been marketed in returnable crates. Even bananas in our area are sold 80 to 90 percent in EPS crates," Sidio says. "For many large delivery services, single-use plastic packaging is an exclusion criterion because it's not part of their portfolio or accepted by their customers. All packaging and containers that come back to us are also recycled accordingly."
One of the few wholesalers with standard wages
The lack of employees is not a problem for the company, which is not least due to the pay: "While most competitors rely on the minimum wage, we are one of the few organic wholesalers that pays collectively agreed wages. While this comes at a higher cost to us, we are proud to be covered by collective tariff-bound."
Further information:
Lance Sidio
Naturkost Elkershausen GmbH
Levinstraße 9
37079 Göttingen
Phone: +49 551 5066 10
Telefax: +49 551 5066 155
E-Mail: [email protected]
Website: https://www.naturkost-elkershausen.de