ESL Blogs

This week I attended a big event that is called: The Amsterdam Produce Show. This show is organised in different places: New York and London. This year was the first year that it took place in Amsterdam.

It was a pleasure that I could attend this event and I learnt many things during this show. This show took 3 days long. Every day, it started since the morning and ended in the late afternoon.

I belonged to the Peruvian delegation. The Trade Commission of Peru in the Netherlands picked me up at the GroentenFruithuis. GroentenFruithuis is an organisation that speaks on behalf of the fruit and vegetable sector in the Netherlands. The Trade Commission brought us to several logistic companies to show the possible logistic partners for the Peruvian delegation. It was interesting as each logistic company showed their techniques and specialization. Some have 25 years of experience in ripening and transporting avocado. Others were more specialized in exotic fruits.

At night there was a cocktail party to join with all the attending companies for this event. It was a great opportunity to see who attended at this scenery and a moment to share knowledge and to network.

While the next day arrived, it was the moment to present your products to the outer world! Me and my partner were part of the Peruvian stand and we represented Peru with 2 other Peruvian companies and the Trade Commission of Peru. Our concept was based on sustainability and circular economy to be applied on the supply chain of importing and exporting exotic fruits from Peru to the Netherlands.

We had the opportunity to meet many companies that do business in the fruit and vegetable sector that wanted to expand their products globally. Also we had the opportunity to see which item is truly appreciated in this market. For example: avocado, mango and sweet potatoes are the 3 products that are famous from Peru. These 3 products are well-known to be exported to Europe and the rest of the world. We were specialised in exotic fruits and chili: Ajies, Camu Camu and Lucuma.

This day was a very long day with many seminars to share and gain more knowledge. Their was one panel with expertise about the sustainability of the supply chain from Peru and Netherlands in the fresh produce. The conclusion was that there are several points that are hard to be solved. For example the standards that are given to the producers as a proof in the market that their products are based on sustainability. This concept faces double standards in practice as the farmers try to receive the standard while the importance of the quality of the products is merely the case anymore. This was and should be the focus point. After an hour of discussion, the panel found out that this problem might be hard to solve, at this moment they also do not have a solution for it.

The last day was a tour of retail markets. For me this tour was less interesting as for my fellow companies as I already seen the supermarkets before. In this case I also left earlier after saying goodbye to the people that I met during this event.

At the end I could say that I learned many things about people, network, the fresh produce chain, important fresh products from Peru to Europe and many more things. What was most worthwhile of this event was the possibility to find out more about who you are and what you can do for this world.