Spain: expert urges the berry sector to adapt to new consumer models to "be competitive"
José María O'Kean offered the inaugural lecture at the IV International Congress of Red Fruits, held at the Casa Colón in Huelva, Spain and which was attended by the Regional Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Development, Rodrigo Sánchez Haro, among other authorities.
In this sense, he explained that berry producers must offer "sensations", rather than products themselves, since "for the neo consumer the important thing is not to have things, but to feel them." The professor gave the strawberry as an example. "You have to ask the consumer what they want the strawberry they want to be like, and to do this we have to have a lot of prior information with the new technologies, otherwise we would be wrong," he said.
As an important part of this process, the Economics professor has encouraged the berry sector "to fully enter 4.0 and new technologies, filling the fields with sensors and drones that allow us to have adequate control so that the final product is of the best quality.
INTERNATIONAL MARKETS FOR ENERGY STORAGE
The most international side of the Congress was present at the day with examples of production, import and export of berries in countries such as the United Kingdom, China, the United Arab Emirates and Germany.
In this way, the presentation 'Trends and opportunities with global and European retail and e-commerce', presented by Pierre Escodo, editor of the magazine 'Eurofresh Distribution', gave the congressmen the opportunity to learn about the current situation in such important markets for berries such as the British and Chinese.
Sabina Wyant, berry manager of the Tesco chain, highlighted the fact that the berry market had increased by 51 percent in the United Kingdom in the last five years thanks, above all, "to genetic improvements and new varieties. In addition, she has emphasized that the British consumer "is very demanding", which is why she has encouraged the offer of "environmentally sustainable and great tasting" products.
The emerging Chinese market was present at the Congress with Qidong Zhu, vice president of the firm Pagoda, based in Shezhen, who pointed out that blueberry production has had a "very rapid development" since it was introduced in his country. in 2001.
Zhu has assured that for Chinese consumers, flavor is a "primary" fact, and that the main problems facing production in this country is the need to establish its own brands and varieties, as well as look for better channels for sale. and distribution.
For his part, Martín Jorge Aguirre, from the company Spinneys Dubai, has spoken of the complicated United Arab Emirates market for the export of berries due to its special climatic conditions. Thus, he has indicated that this country imports 98 percent of the berries it consumes and has stated that the main challenges are "maintaining the cold chain, selecting the appropriate varieties, fruit in the appropriate state of maturity, and efficiency." in packaging and air transport. Furthermore, he has assured that Spain, to win that market, faces the challenge "of being identified by a premium country of origin."
The German market, the main buyer of berries from Spain, was present at the Congress with Hand Widmann and Mathias Hundhausen, representatives of the companies Herbert Widmann and Nordgemüse Krogmann. Widmann has assured that Spain's main challenge is to "produce berries of good quality and at a moderate cost, since only in this way will it be able to stop the strong competition it is experiencing from Portugal and Morocco."
For his part, Hundhausen has highlighted that the sensitivity of the German consumer "is considerably increased", especially with regard to "taste and appearance", which is why he has urged producers to work in that direction.
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