Greek stonefruit company sees potential in Africa
With so many companies vying for new markets, some of the benefits of venturing into these markets c…With so many companies vying for new markets, some of the benefits of venturing into these markets can be lost, as everyone follows the herd searching for the next new thing.
According to John Georgiou and Kostas Bampalis from N. Apollo., once the news was out about the middle east having a lot of potential, everyone flocked there, which is why, they said, it is important to look further and seek new markets which still offer a lot of opportunities.
John Georgiou and Kostas Bampalis from A.A. Kouloura.
N. Apollo is part of the Consortium Kasos Komex, which is a cooperative formed by a small group of producers who joined back in 1976, aiming to improve quality and help develop exports from the region. The group's primary product is peaches, including flat peaches, but they also offer kiwis, apples, plums and pears.
"We are working with stone fruits, especially flat peaches, and are primarily active in Central and Eastern Europe; ie Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia and the Ukraine. We sell to Cyprus, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Dubai and Abu Dhabi. We are now switching our focus to other markets and we think that the best opportunities are now in Africa and East Asia, Shanghai and Hong Kong." shared John Georgiou.
Hong Kong and Shanghai require certification for certain products, like cherries and kiwis.
"We transport the cherries by plane and the kiwis by sea. Our Chinese contacts haven't been interested in other products until recently. Since we already have the experience working with the market for cherries and kiwis, we know what needs to be done, so we don't expect that the addition of other fruits to our offering will be too difficult. For us it is very important that the EU and the Greek government offer their support for this venture by creating some programs to give us the opportunity to travel and show our products to these newer markets."