Family-run companies are something of a rarity on today’s commercial stage, but for Bel’Export, a fruit exporting business based in Borgloon, Belgium, the family connection is an integral part of its success.
It is run by the Derwaels, who have been growing fruit since 1922 when they set up production company Fruitbedrijf Derwael. Now a third-generation family business run by two sets of Derwael brothers, it produces 6,000 tonnes of top fruit and cherries spread over the Haspengouw region, Europe’s second largest concentrated fruit-growing area after South Tyrol in Italy.
Bel’Export is the company’s exporting arm and supplies top fruit to markets all around the world, including Russia, Scandanavia and the UK under the label Bel’ de Looz.
It handles everything from growing and packing to distribution, and the company’s recent reinvestment of €3 million has seen it lift business to a new level. It now has a range of new facilities, including a state-of-the-art cold store and packhouse, which were built to exacting standards, and two years ago the company received BRC higher level certification. This propelled them to venture into new markets, chiefly the UK and Scandanavia, where Bel’Export has secured several lucrative avenues for its top fruit.
In the UK, Bel’ Export began supplying top fruit to the Co-op and Somerfield last season amid a European shortage and its relationships with the supermarkets have since gone from strength to strength. Commercial manager Koen Vanherck - the only member of the management team not related to the Derwael family - explains: “We did not start exporting to the UK until the end of last season. The reason we started was that there was a shortage in the whole of Europe. We went through a prepacker for Somerfield and the Co-op to do some apples, and at the end of the day, they were so pleased with our apples - Jonagold and Jonagored - that we were able to make a new programme for all of this season, and we’re very happy about it.”
The new contract will see Bel’Export supplying into Somerfield until August next year. “I think it’s a big opportunity for the supermarket as well,” Vanherck says. “Instead of going overseas to bring apples in containers to the UK and prepack them there, they can have it packed at source in Belgium and every day a lorry is only five hours away from the door.”
Bel’Export supplies the UK with Conference and Comice pears, Jonagold, Jonagored, Cox, Gala and Braeburn apples, as well as some strawberries and cherries. It is also growing new varieties Greenstar and Kanzi, the latter of which Vanherck has high hopes for in the UK market.
He says it is a tough market to crack, but a worthwhile one. “It is a hard market - for us it’s the hardest market to work on,” he says. “But on the other hand it’s a fair market. Once you are in, and you are fair with them, they are trustful and you can have a long relationship.
“There will always be a potential for selling fruit there because the climate and the ground means [the UK] is not able to grow fruit in all areas, and also the consumption is much higher than everywhere else. If you go to a supermarket in England, the first thing you see is fruit. You can see that it’s so important.”
Vanherck explains that top-fruit growing in the low countries has evolved dramatically over the last decade. While the Netherlands once monopolised the limelight for its top-fruit, the Belgian trade has progressed dramatically in 10 years, and is now equally renowned for its production of apples and pears, a market position aided greatly by Bel’Export’s emergence, he claims. “Many years ago, everyone in the fruit business spoke only about Dutch fruit and today they understand that Bel’Export, together with others, has put Belgian fruit on the map for the UK.
“Holland growers had an advantage because their commercial presence was so strong, the Belgian people didn’t have this, but today it’s the other way round.”
He says that Belgium’s position is aided by superior growing conditions. “Our soil is better. The soil in Holland is mainly sand, and pears grown in sand won’t be as hard or have as good a shelf life.”
While Belgium may have established a good name for itself in foreign climes with both its apples and pears, the country’s production focus is changing, according to Vanherck. While Bel’Export is focusing its attention on both pears and apples for export, many Belgian growers are downsizing apple production in favour of pears and soft fruit. Every year Belgian producers plant one million conference trees, representing a 10 per cent year-on-year growth, he says.
By contrast, Bel’Export “believes in the future of apples” and will continue growing them over four 130-acre blocks in Haspengouw, along with pears. The growing areas are split equally between the two products and are each year protected against spring frosts, which threaten to disrupt the trees’ flowering period, using outdoor heat ventilators and machines known as ‘frostbusters’.
But this year it has been the heat that has caught growers out. The country’s pear producers have had a relatively rocky season with the erratic temperatures that hit Europe this summer, resulting in some storage issues with Conference pears, according to Vanherck. He says the hot July with little rainfall saw pears ripening prematurely, and as fruit was still relatively small, growers left it on trees for too long. “Normally growers can store the pears until August. This year, because of this problem they can only store them until May/June, so there will be two months less selling period.”
However, Bel’Export’s recent investment in state-of-the-art facilities has paid off, allowing it greater control of the fruit. “We control the stores daily so we will have no problems with it and we will still have hard, fresh pears in the months of July and August. We have some of the few stores in Belgium that are carrying pears good enough for the English market,” he says.
Gaining BRC higher level accreditation has been particularly important in proving Bel’Export’s stringent standards to prospective customers, and the high-tech facilities seem to be proving their worth. However, gaining the consortium’s approval has been a tough journey, Vanherck says. “It’s very hard in the beginning to ask for more money for your produce because you’ve got BRC approval. It takes a while before you can get a response for it and start getting your investment back,” he explains.
“It’s been hard for us over the last three years. When you invest a lot of money, for me it’s disappointing when I come to the UK and supermarkets ask me about traceability and spraying records, and the standards they ask of us are not even followed in England.
“It’s very hard work and it all comes down to this one piece of paper.”
However, he does not doubt that the prowess of having such proven high standards will continue to open doors for the company.
But it is not just these attributes that set Bel’Export apart from rival producers. The Derwael family’s long-held commitment to fruit production and high quality standards is a unique trait, Vanherck says.
Recently, the fourth generation of Derwael’s joined to help run the business, but they will have to start, as every other member of the company has done, working first on the menial tasks so that they know every aspect of the business inside out. “It’s very important for the company later on,” he says.
“Bel’Export is a young team and this is very important for the continuity of the company.
“The most important thing is the situation that we are in - one family growing, packing, transporting and exporting. It is all under one roof, so we can bring one customer consistent quality from the first lorry to the last.
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