FRUIT LOGISTICA Daily: Fruits and vegetables at discount stores

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2019

FRUIT LOGISTICA Daily

Quote of the Day

“When choosing their supermarket, three things play an important role for customers: first, the freshness of the goods; second, the selection available; and third, the presentation. Overall, customers buy more from a place where they are happy with the choice of fresh fruit and vegetables.”

Rainer Münch, Partner for Retail and Consumer Goods at Oliver Wyman, author of the “FRUIT LOGISTICA Trend Report 2019”

Stat of the Day

In Germany, 57 percent of all carrots are sold at discount stores. In Spain, 14 percent, namely every seventh carrot, is purchased at a discount store. The figures are similar for fresh fruit: 47 percent of apples and 54 percent of oranges are purchased from discount stores in Germany, with respective sales of 12 and 8 percent in Spain. Incidentally, the biggest seller is bananas – in both Germany and Southern Europe.

In 1962, the Albrecht brothers opened Europe’s first discount store in Essen. Few products, sold directly from their pallet or shipping box, and low prices were the key to Aldi’s success, which soon extended its reach throughout Germany and Europe. The former food wholesaler Lidl later overtook Aldi with branches in 29 countries. With an estimated turnover of 80,5 billion Euros per year, Lidl is the largest discount supermarket chain in Europe according to the “FRUIT LOGISTICA European Statistics Handbook 2019”, followed by Aldi with a turnover of 61,9 billion Euros and the Russian chain Pyaterochka in third place (17,8 billion Euros).

Until the 1970s, discount stores hardly sold any fruits and vegetables. Today, fresh goods play an increasingly important role for the trade segment. According to the “FRUIT LOGISTICA Trend Report 2019”, which the management consulting firm Oliver Wyman drew up for the third time this year, discount supermarkets such as Lidl and Aldi are working to expand their fruit and vegetable assortment in order to also reach upper- and middle-income groups in urban areas. Even freshly-cut lettuces are now on the shelves, as are organic fruits and vegetables. Bananas are the most sold fruit in discount supermarkets and the biggest source of sales. As for vegetables, carrots, tomatoes and cucumbers are the most popular. According to the study, taste, size and shape are consumers’ main criteria when looking for fresh products in supermarkets.

The acceptance of discount supermarkets as fruit and vegetable sellers varies widely in Europe: While Danes bought 41 percent of their fresh produce in discount stores in 2017, followed by Germany (39 percent) and Poland (31 percent), that figure was only 5 percent in Spain. According to the authors of the European Statistics Handbook, Spanish and, to a lesser extent, Italian consumers continue to buy fresh fruits and vegetables at markets or in small shops.

Three Questions to...

Julian Beer, Managing Director, Purchasing, Lidl Dienstleistung GmbH & Co. KG

How important are fruits and vegetables for discount stores?

Fruits and vegetables are our flagstaff. They stand for maximum freshness and optimum quality at the best price. Our efficient logistics routes provide our customers with a selection that changes every day and is always crisp and fresh.

Which fruit is your bestseller?

Interestingly, bananas are our best-selling individual product. This creates a heavy responsibility. We have started to switch all our bananas to Fairtrade. Producers receive minimum prices and bonuses they can choose to use for social projects or schools.

How are you responding to customers’ requests for less plastic and increased regionality?

We are reducing plastic and using innovative types of packaging. We are continually increasing the proportion of unpackaged fruits and vegetables. The issue of regionality also plays an important role. Our Bioland cooperation, for example, involves switching to domestically-sourced produce.

Radar Retail

Just spotted at FRUIT LOGISTICA: new and extraordinary fruits and vegetables.

With a value of 20 degrees Brix, the Oriental Red contains nearly twice as much fructose as green kiwis and its shelf life is even two months longer. The fruit, whose flesh is partly red, is a variety of golden kiwi that has been grown for three years in Calabria and Emilia-Romagna. It is currently mainly exported to Germany and Great Britain, soon also further abroad.

Jingold SpA
Hall 2.2, Stand A-02
Contact: Federico Milanese
T: +39 34986 26463
f.milanese@jingold.it

The Bejo company presents a world premiere: “Erasmus F1 is the first purple asparagus that is 100 percent male”, says Kevin van Schaik, Area Crop Manager South America. Male plants grow faster and produce higher yields. Erasmus F1 tastes slightly sweet, is rich in antioxidants and can be eaten raw and unpeeled. This makes it perfect for salads or as a snack.

Bejo Zaden B.V.
Hall 1.2, Stand B-15
Contact: Kevin van Schaik
T: +31 226 396 162
kevin.vanschaik@bejo.nl

Blockchain ensures transparency

If a container is exposed to the sun during transport, it can get hot – too hot for the fruit inside the container. Customers rarely know anything about this. Smart technology and blockchain offer an alternative: Sensors record the temperature, humidity and position of the container and write the data into a blockchain, a list of records which all contractors can access. “This technology ensures that the data is transparent to everyone. So nothing can be manipulated,” says Guido Lange, CEO of Block Builders GmbH. In the Future Lab, he will be presenting an example provided by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, which tested the process in 2018 by sending 17,000 kilos of almonds to Hamburg.

“Almonds in the blockchain”
Thursday, 7 February 2019
11:00-11:30 a.m.
Hall 26

Environmentally-friendly deliveries

The world’s metropolises are growing. At the same time, more and more people in cities are having products delivered directly to their door, including food. Urban traffic is increasing. Manufacturers and retailers are now seeking solutions as to how to organise the final section of the supply chain so that fruit arrives fresh and is delivered in a sustainable manner. The discussions include electric vehicles and improved coordination so that deliveries are not made to the same road several times a day. Jens Drubel, Managing Director of “lebensmittelwandel”, and Dr Volker Lange from the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics present solutions that are in the interests of business, politics and society.

“The last mile”
Thursday, 7 February 2019
3:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Hall B/CityCube Berlin

Avoiding waste

Around 11 million tonnes of food are thrown away every year in Germany alone. Not only is energy needed for production, transport and distribution, but also to destroy what is left over. US Americans throw away 40 percent of their food on average. The annual cost of food waste is here more than $165 billion per year, and that figure is on the rise. According to estimates, it could reach $252 billion per year by 2030. Tiffany Compres, a lawyer specialising in international law, will present current strategies for avoiding waste and superfluous transport.

“Food waste and distribution”
Thursday, 7 February 2019
10:00-10:25 a.m.
Hall 26

Innovative nets

Harmful insects cause high yield losses in agriculture throughout the world. Not only is the use of chemical pesticides in this fight expensive, it also pollutes the environment. Furthermore, consumers increasingly want food that has been sustainably produced. The company Arrigoni is presenting nets made of high-tech fibres for use in greenhouses and fields on the Tech Stage. These nets protect fruits and vegetables from insect damage and are also available in a particularly air-permeable version thanks to a special manufacturing process. This is clearly an advantage in view of rising temperatures as a result of climate change.

“Invasive insects, climate change and new phytopathological threats: advanced agrotextiles for safe food and climate control”
Thursday, 7 February 2019
4:00-5:00 p.m.
Hall 9, Stand B-12/B-13

Video of the Day

Over 3,200 exhibitors from 90 countries: FRUIT LOGISTICA has never been this large and international. From Wednesday to Friday, it's all about the global trade in fresh fruits and vegetables. A short insight into the trade fair halls at Messe Berlin.

All videos and interviews are available at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/FruitLogistica

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions!

Kind regards,

Your FRUIT LOGISTICA team

Messe Berlin GmbH
Messedamm 22, 14055 Berlin, Germany
fruitlogistica@messe-berlin.de
www.fruitlogistica.com

Management board: Dr. Christian Göke (Vorsitzender), Dirk Hoffmann
Chairman of the supervisory board: Wolf-Dieter Wolf
Amtsgericht Charlottenburg (District Court), HRB 5484 B (Commercial Code)