In recent years, Southeast Asia has seen positive growth in the international fruit trade. Regarding the most recent changes in the region, particularly in Indonesia, Yuyuh Sukmana, Regional Manager (Southeast Asia) Vanguard, shared his opinions with Freshplaza.
Since the start of the pandemic, the fruit trade has been facing various challenges globally. "Even so, we are happy to share that our imported fruits volume into Indonesia is showing positive growth each year. We provide our customers with diversified premium products, shipping fruits from all over the world, including Asian regions such as China and Japan. Among all varieties, our volume generated on imported fruits are primarily grapes, apples, oranges and pears." Yuyuh Sukmana said.
For Indonesian consumers, pricing and quality are the two most important attributes when purchasing fruits. While value for money has always been the leading consideration, in terms of eating quality, the requirements have changed from mainly tasting good and sweet to also offering more health benefits and assuring safety, driven by the needs to stay healthy and increase immunity during the pandemic.
When being asked for trend changes in fruit packaging, Yuyuh Sukmana explained, "While I am seeing growing concerns on environmental issues related to packaging materials, increased demand of pre-packed fruits in recent years is more driven by health consciousness, where the guaranteed safety and freshness need to be the selling point since the pandemic. Hence, the packaging style and overall presentation in retail stores have played a more important role in consumers’ buying decision."
While life is progressing back to normal with the easing of pandemic related protocols, the impact on the fruit trade is escalating and will need more time to recover. The high logistical costs, even having shown some reduction, and rising of production costs, have inflated imported fruit prices. Meanwhile, signs of a possible global recession and increased inflation have made consumers more conservative with their spending due to weakening purchasing power.
To conclude, Yuyuh Sukmana shared, "How soon and how well the supporting industries start to show more significant signs of recovery, such as logistics (including sea freight services) will play an important role in the future growth of Indonesian fruit imports."
For more information:
Yuyuh Sukmana - Regional Manager (Southeast Asia)
Vanguard International Group
yuyuh.sukmana@vanguardteam.com