Promar International divisional director John Giles reflects on huge transformations in international fruit and vegetable sector
This week I retired from Promar International after 36 years with the business. While I have had a great time, all good things come to an end, I guess.
I have been lucky to work on many fantastic projects with great client organisations. I have worked with, and for, so many inspirational people. I have learnt from all of you.
Looking back over this time, there have been so many changes in the UK and international fruit and vegetable sectors – it would be unusual if things hadn’t! I have picked out a few things here that struck me as especially important.
I joined the company at what was a moment of great socio-economic and political change with the dramatic opening up of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Over time this produced huge changes, with new market opportunities, investments in horticultural production and processing, and shifts in the way economies were managed as they transformed from communist regimes into more free-market-style economies. I was lucky. I went to them all.
Other markets have opened up too, especially in Asia. India and China are still probably seen as the ultimate prizes for produce growers and exporters around the world. There are many other markets though, not least in Southeast Asia and parts of the Middle East, that have emerged as important for international producers and exporters. Thirty-six years ago, these areas of the world were not on the radar for many.
Sustainability has become a major issue around the world. It is certainly not just a challenge for Northern Europe. It covers a wide range of areas, including water usage, labour, corporate governance, pesticide use, packaging, waste management, climate change mitigation, biodiversity and the reduction of emissions.
Again, no one was talking about these issues 36 years ago. Today, it is hard to a have a conversation about UK or international horticulture without it being a main area of conversation. It appears to be a subject that will not go away in the near-to-mid-term future. And nor should it.
The use of agritech solutions right across the supply chain – from inputs, through production, processing, marketing, packing automation, distribution, and understanding customer and consumer behaviour – is now increasingly common. There still seems a long way to go, though, if the full power of agritech – not least in the area of AI – is to produce the solutions needed by hard-pressed producers, exporters and importers around the world.
Accreditations and certifications? GlobalGAP, Sedex, Red Tractor, BRC – and the rest – have all become the norm over the last 30 years. They now form a vital part of the right to supply major customers. Use and management of the cool chain was just emerging 36 years ago. Now, again, it is the norm.
Online retailing 36 years ago? Unheard of. The growth of discounters in the UK to the point that they will challenge the position of our leading’ Big Four’ retailers? This would have been all but unimaginable. It is what has happened though. It doesn’t look as if the discounters in the UK are going to stop where they are now. They have turned the market in the UK on its head.
Supply chain shocks? They seem to be coming quicker and with more impact than ever before. Covid, Brexit, the war in Ukraine, and now in the Middle East – and the surge in production costs as a result – have all fundamentally reshaped supply chains. They have, and will in the future, require producers and distributors to act in a more flexible, resilient and very different way than in the past.
There have always been supply chain shocks in the past, but at the moment they seem to be coming thick and fast. I am pretty sure the next one is already “out there” somewhere. We just don’t know what it is yet. But it will come before too long.
What else? Supermarket consolidation in most mature markets in Europe and the US has been ongoing – and now we are seeing this start to happen in emerging markets too. Global retailers need global suppliers, and we have seen the development of international supply and marketing alliances between those in the northern and southern hemispheres.
Another shift we have seen is the rise of foodservice. Indeed, some homes in California, are even built with no kitchens in the belief that some consumers will never eat at home. Meanwhile, petrol and service stations have become major sellers of food and drink and now use this as a key differentiator. None of this was around 30 years.
Niche markets? Organics, Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance have all shown growth, as have other premium areas, such as heritage and local produce. There has been a polarisation of supply – the big seem to get bigger, the small act in more niche areas. Getting caught in the middle seems like a dangerous place to be.
So much has changed in the time I have been with Promar. There has always been something happening around the world that clients have wanted to know about. As I have sometimes said, there’s “never a dull moment” at Promar, and while the time has come to retire, I would expect it to stay that way. Plenty of future challenges lie ahead for my colleagues to get a grip of.
Thirty-six years is a long time. It’s all been terrific and I thank you all for your support, fellowship and encouragement – especially my good friends and colleagues at the FPJ and Eurofruit, who have always been so supportive of everything I have been involved with.
John Giles has been a divisional director with Promar International, the consulting arm of Genus plc, since 1990. He has worked on assignments all around the UK and in 63 other countries.
