Belgian cooperative BelOrta has revealed that it will take charge of the commercialisation and marketing of fruit produced by the growers of Veiling Haspengouw, following a cooperation agreement between the two boards of directors.
The announcement came on the eve of the new apple and pear season, the main items at Veiling Haspengouw, and signals the end of Veiling Haspengouw’s commercial ties with Univeg parent company Greenyard Foods.
BelOrta CEO Filip Fontaine said that the arrangement was in part a reaction to the tough market for topfruit growers, with the massive Russian market remaining closed.
“The ultimate aim is to have one organisation capable of offering a huge quantity of fruit,” he said. “This will lead to cost reductions for everyone, including the growers. It will also make us more efficient and organised, especially for sending to distant markets like Canada.”
According to Fontaine, this is no merger, the idea being for both parties to cooperate and work together. “The growers of Veiling Haspenhouw are not obliged to join BelOrta, but we welcome them all,” he said. “Veiling Haspengouw is seeking a way to integrate into BelOrta, while we will obviously be recruiting from Haspengouw.”
Greenyard Foods decided to withdraw from the joint venture, stating its support for Veiling Haspengouw’s decision to create economies of scale in order to improve efficiency.
The deal between BelOrta and Veiling Haspengouw is subject to approval by the competition authorities, but Fontaine foresees no issues, since the combined volume of topfruit sold by the two cooperatives comes to less than half the national total.
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