Earlier this month, Belgian Fruit Valley (BFV) organised an official launch for its Joly Red apples in Singapore at NTUC FairPrice Cooperative.
BFV’s commercial director, Marc Evrard, attended the launch, along with FairPrice CEO Seah Kian Peng and Belgian ambassador Gerard Cockx.
'Did you know that Singaporeans are true apple fans?” Evrard asked those in attendance. “From now on, Singaporeans will also be able to enjoy the sweet, crunchy taste of Joly Red apples.”
November has been a busy month for launches from BFV, including a promotion in India to mark the Belgian national holiday, King’s Day, and events in China.
“In India, we’ve been mostly selling apples under the Truval brand, but also our Conference pears,” says Evrard. “We are keeping up our communication with our Indian customers. For China, it’s important we maintain our links with and support for our retail customers.”
The ‘Enjoy Every Moment - Truval Belgian Pear News Conference’ was held at retailer Aeon in the Beijing Yongwang Chaoyang Dayuo shopping mall, organised by Dole, which acts as the main sales channel for Truval pears in China. Another event took place at Olé in Guangzhou.
Evrard equally sees potential for Joly Red in the Middle East. “We are selling in North Africa and have done some trial shipments to the UAE and Saudi Arabia,” he says. “Selling Conference pears is harder in the Middle East. We have to convince the purchasing departments of retailers to encourage shoppers to taste them in-store. But we have a limited promotional budget, so we can’t be everywhere at the same time.”
