The global situation regarding fruit and vegetable flows is experiencing some highly complicated moments, due to high freight prices and instability of the routes
Importers such as the Madrilenian company Frutas E. Sánchez,are subject to the continuous ups and downs of the maritime traffic, which has not got back to normal after the outbreak of the pandemic and that is now being affected by more distortions due to the Russian boycott.“At the moment, it is very complicated to make exact calculations for imports, to uphold a good strategy or distinguish the line between profit and loss, which is getting narrower all the time. The challenge involves doing the import and Spanish national calculations correctly,” Esther Sánchez, the company’s Financial Manager, explains.
The business group is one of the largest suppliers for Spanish distribution and it also has its own productions both in Chile (in the VI and VII regions) and in Spain, in the region of Aragon, added to significant import lines from the southern country. “Our end goal has always been to be present on the supermarket shelves twelve months of the year.”
Accordingly, and given the international economic circumstances and the rise in freight prices, the executive ventures to predict that over the next few months there could be a greater trend towards local consumption: “we are going to see how products from distant origins are going to have to adapt a great deal in order to become as competitive as possible. For us, having our own production of 120 hectares in Aragon brings us a modicum of stability.”
If truth be told, companies have been observing changes since 2021 until “a situation of complete uncertainty was reached, made worse by the war in Europe. In just a few weeks there have been very drastic changes with an exponential increase in costs and a consumption that is dropping every day. At the moment, we are playing chess, moving however we can and we must be cautious when consumption falls off and inflation is on the rise,” the financier indicates.
Additionally, she considers that despite this distortion in consumption, the prices must be passed on to the supermarkets. “It is a Catch-22 situation. I understand that the challenge for supermarkets lieson being the most efficient, the cheapest and with the greatest variety, but, at present, the operators are working with very tight margins and if this is not passed on, the survival of many companies will come into play.”
The apple campaign
Regarding the apple campaign, Sánchezindicates that it has been “complicated, but, in spite of everything, our brand Qué rica!is standing up to the challenges of the market very well, perhaps because it is known to consumers.”
The company from Madrid has made a decisive commitment to diversification towards exotic fruits. “We believe that it is essential to increase both service and offer, because depending on one or several products can mean a great risk for any company.”
Energy sustainability
The installation of solar panels for self-consumption is the first step that Frutas E. Sánchez has taken in its energy efficiency project, which at present means a saving of almost 25% of the total energy used by the centre. The next challenge involves completing an extensive digitalisation process that will allow greater flexibility in all the internal processes and for the supply chain.
