Valle Maule, one of Chile’s few specialist blueberry-grower-packers, has moved to integrate its production and sales operations by making its long-term distributors for Asia and Europe shareholders in the business.
Aozora, its Asia distributor based in Auckland, New Zealand, and Widmann, its Germany-based distributor for Europe, have each acquired shares in Valle Maule, and taken on its sales and marketing for their respective regions.
“Over almost 25 years of growing blueberries and 15 years of exporting directly, we have grown and learn a lot about the entire blueberry business,” Valle Maule’s president Raul Dastres told Asiafruit. “We feel proud of our achievements and our team, but it’s obvious the future brings us new challenges, and we’re working on these. So integrating our commercial division with our established partners is a key factor in our strategy.”
In Asia, Valle Maule began working with Aozora back in 2009, after deciding it needed its commercial team to be closer to the market, rather than being based in Chile.
Since then, the two companies have built a strong business together in Asia, said Aozora managing director Anthony Bruford. “Our companies have very similar business philosophies, but above all we’ve become very close friends. The produce business is all about relationships and trust at the end of the day, so it was a real honour to be invited to join them in the partnership.
Dastres echoed these sentiments. “We were 100 per cent sure we had the right partners in our two main blueberry export markets,” he said. “Reliability and relationships are key in this business, so once we found people we could really trust, and had experienced a great synergy with over several seasons, it was logical to join together and build our future together. We’re now stronger and more integrated than ever before.”
Aozora was already handling the majority of Valle Maule’s Asian sales and marketing, but Bruford said the company will now have stronger strategic input to the commercial side of the business in the region.
“The main benefit is the shifting of the commercial operation closer to the markets,” Bruford explained. “Being based in New Zealand, Aozora bridges time zones, and is available to service Asian customers for their entire working day.All our staff are bilingual in English and at least one other Asian language, so we take pride in working with customers in their native tongue.We have 10 permanent staff based in Japan and Korea, and New Zealand staff in Asia almost every month of the year.This is not adding an extra layer of cost or communication to the business – but rather adding value to the customer.”
In recent years, Aozora has built strong programmes with Valle Maule into Japan, China and Korea, and it is now focusing on other up-and-coming South East Asian markets, Bruford noted. “We ship several different ways – by air, truck and air, and by sea.”
With blueberries enjoying a surge in popularity in Asia, the partners see great future potential for Chilean exports, but they also recognise there are constraints to address.
“The main challenges I see lie in logistics keeping up with demand – particularly for airfreight blueberries,” said Bruford. “A lot of volume is shipped to Asia in reefer containers, a four- or five-week transit.You really need to trust the quality, post-harvest handling, and logistics of your supplier in this instance.This is why a lot of work is going into developing new varieties, which are larger in size, and stronger for the long transit to the Far East.”
Dastres agreed, noting that close management of the supply chain, right from orchard and variety selection, are key to success in seafreighting blueberries. “Valle Maule also has a strong focus on the development of new varieties through our own breeding programme, and we hope to commercialise the best of these in the next few seasons,” he said.
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