Understanding Netherlands fresh produce market

As Zimbabwe seeks to boost exports, potential and existing farmers need to leverage on lowhanging fruits to increase their foreign currency earnings.

There is also need to take advantage of current markets where local products are already doing well, especially for first-time exporters as well as those seeking to diversify their export products. In this regard, Europe is one the largest importer of Zimbabwean produce, particularly the Netherlands and United Kingdom.

The Netherlands market, which is currently the top importer of Zimbabwe’s fresh produce, is a lucrative market for those who can unlock it.

Growing consumer awareness around the nutritional value of fresh produce, coupled with an increase in population and per capita income, have increased demand for fresh fruits and vegetables in Netherlands.

Consequently, the value and volume of imports of fresh fruits and vegetables have increased in Netherlands, as supply is constrained by the seasonality of production due to their temperate climate.

Thus, local farmers, including smallholder and rural farmers, have a shot at supplying the Netherlands market with various products. Leading buyers in Netherlands are already familiar with the quality of local produce, which they have described as top quality compared to competition, and this makes landing produce in the market easy.

As Netherlands is one of the top re-exporters of fresh produce in the world, local businesses also have an opportunity to use the country as a gateway to the rest of Europe and other leading markets in the Middle East and Asia.

Key export products and trends

Most fresh vegetables and fruits produced in Zimbabwe have a market in Netherlands. This includes blueberries, peas, avocados, pineapples, sweet potatoes, watermelons, passion fruit, citrus, stone fruits and macadamia.

Avocado is one of the top fresh produce imported in Netherlands.

It has become one of the top superfoods in the market, offering sustainable export opportunities for farmers.

There are two main varieties of avocados produced and consumed across the world — hass avocado and green-skinned avocados such as fuerte, bacon, gwen, macArthur, pinkerton, reed, and zutano avocados. Around 80 percent of avocados produced and consumed worldwide, including in Netherlands, are hass, which also happens to be the main variety grown for exports in Zimbabwe.

According to Trade Map, imports of fresh or dried avocados in Netherlands have grown from around US$553 million in 2017 to US$1,02 billion in 2021.

Current top exporters include Peru, Colombia, Chile, South Africa and Spain.

Most of the imported avocados in Netherlands are re-exported to countries such as Germany, France, Norway, Denmark, Poland, Sweden, Belgium and Switzerland.

Citrus fruits are another top import product in Netherlands that local farmers can consider. Figures available on Trade Map show that Netherlands imported fresh and dried citrus worth around US$1,14 billion in 2021, up from US$1,02 billion in 2017.

Top countries exporting citrus to Netherlands include South Africa, Spain, Egypt, Brazil, Germany and Morocco.

With a population of just under 18 million people, according to World Bank, Netherlands along cannot absorb all citrus products.

The majority of imported citrus are re-exported to the rest of Europe, with top export markets being France, Poland and Belgium.

The market for leguminous vegetables such as peas and beans has also been growing, with countries such as Kenya growing their market share exponentially over the past few years. Data from Trade Map shows the Netherlands imported leguminous vegetables worth around US$210 million in 2021, up from US$166 million in 2017.

Peas and beans are some of the most viable vegetables for local producers to consider and can guarantee success for those planning to increase exports.

What is important to note is that profit margins for peas and beans are usually small, and increasing production will contribute towards improved earnings for exporters. In terms of varieties, there are three main categories of peas — mangetout (snow) peas, sugar snap and garden (shelling) peas.

The main types grown in Zimbabwe are mangetout peas and sugar snap, which have a proven success record in provinces such as Manicaland, Midlands, Mashonaland East and Mashonaland West.

In addition, blueberries have also become popular as a healthy and easyto-snack fruit.

Demand and supply is expected to grow over the next few years.

For farmers that are planning to grow blueberries, this projected growth in supply in the next decade means high prices are being enjoyed now.

According to Netherlands’ Centre for Promotion of Imports from developing countries (CBI), suppliers can take advantage of the strong demand, but at the same time must count on prices slowly declining due to increasing availability of blueberries worldwide.

However, despite the ever-increasing supply and lower average prices, consumption of blueberries continues to grow, which is an assurance to farmers that are still to produce the crop. Further, demand for sweet potatoes has more than doubled over the past five years, influenced by the growing interest in organic, exotic and ethnic food. Imports of sweet potatoes in Netherlands have grown from US$79 million in 2017 to US$174 million in 2021.

The largest exporters are the US, Egypt and Belgium. With growing emphasis on healthy lifestyles, the sweet potato is among the most sought-after super food produce because it is high in vitamins and has the capacity to improve blood sugar regulation. It is also a source of iron, magnesium and potassium.

Local farmers have an opportunity to increase exports of sweet potatoes to the Netherlands, considering the rich soils and favourable climatic conditions.

Sweet potato varieties in demand are orange-fleshed, with bearuguard variety and to a lesser extent covington variety making the bulk of imports.

Accessing the market

As Netherlands is part of the European Union (EU), local exporters can ride on the interim Economic Partnership Agreement (iEPA).

The agreement, which Zimbabwe is a signatory to, is targeted at making it easy for exporters to penetrate the European market by offering duty-free and quota-free market access to local exporters. The iEPA targets removal of tariffs and other trade restrictions on qualifying goods between

and Zimbabwe. There are also issues to

EU do with packaging. Local exporters must strike a delicate balance between preservation and sustainability embedded in packaging.

Compliance to regulations around plastics and other non-degradable materials should be considered when selecting the appropriate packaging option.

Currently, global trends are tilted towards use of biodegradable packaging, so reducing the amount of packaging per product are some of the critical success factors.

Further, buyers are increasingly demanding traceable products such as information on the origins of the product and production practices. Here, attaining international standards such as Global will make it

GAP easy for local farmers to comply to these requirements. Exporters must also take note of food standards around sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) requirements, as well as comply with specific requirements that cover specific products.

Some of the information will be provided by buyers or partners in the market.