One of Spain’s oldest citrus companies, García Ballester, has joined forces with importer and distributor Harvest Season to supply Spanish citrus to the Asian market.
With well-established sales channels across the Asian continent, Harvest Season is a consumer-oriented company specialising in the distribution and marketing of high quality fruit worldwide.
García Ballester’s commercial director, Jorge García Monfort, said the goal is to become a leading player in the market. “Once again, China turned out to be an interesting but very complicated market last season,” he explains,
“so finding a local partner in Asia to help us understand the environment and maximise our sales opportunities was essential. At the same time, Harvest Season needed a reliable partner in Spain that, in addition to supplying them with high quality fruit, has the capacity to grow alongside them, adapting to the different needs of the different Asian markets.”
As a pioneer of Spanish citrus exports to Asia, García Ballester already has several years of experience of operating in the market but also built up a solid reputation, particularly in China. Harvest Season, meanwhile, operates an extensive distribution network extending throughout the entire continent.
“I believe that these synergies will help us to grow together in Asia,” says continues. “We both believe that there is huge potential for Spanish citrus provided we have the local knowledge to enable us to send the right quality and sizes to each market at the right moment.
“To ensure this happens, Andrés, Harvest Season’s head of citrus buying in Spain, will be at our facilities throughout the entire process while Lucas, our agent in China, will be in Asia helping the harvest Season team to distribute our fruit.”
As Monfort will attest, the volatility of the Chinese market makes it particularly challenging for Spanish exporters to navigate and this year is no different. Uncertainty surrounding the impact of the coronavirus outbreak has prompted the company to reduce the number of containers destined for this market – at least until a clearer picture of the situation emerges.
“Fortunately, Harvest Season’s online sales channels are well developed,” he says. “This is one of the advantages of this alliance: the flexibility of our partners’ distribution capacity gives us peace of mind.”
