© The Plant Based Traders
Besides Portuguese sweet potatoes, The Plant Based Traders has also been marketing white young drinking coconuts with the Easy-to-Open system for two years under the Goconutty brand. Now, their latest innovation is Pink Coconut Water. "No one else in the market has this," says Helien Verhagen enthusiastically.
The chilled coconut water in bottles is the same as that in drinking coconuts, but it turns pink when the antioxidants come into contact with light. "The coconut concept is becoming more familiar every year. We now supply the entire Algarve in southern Portugal and hope to interest retailers in the product with the bottles," Helien explains. "We are convinced that health and sustainability will continue to dominate in the coming years, and we are responding well with this new product. Coconut water hydrates your body better than water. This makes it the perfect health drink in general, and an excellent post-workout drink."
Coconut water free of additives
She expects the most interest from the German, Spanish, and Portuguese markets. "Germans shop very consciously, and this coconut water without additives is really a product for them. We did laboratory tests, and the product is completely additive-free. Consumers in Spain and Portugal are already very familiar with coconut water. Many Brazilians live in Portugal, and many Portuguese also go to Brazil on holiday."
"From November, we will have commercial volumes of Pink Coconut Water available. The advantage is that if you keep it refrigerated between 2 and 4 degrees, you can sell the product for up to three months. It is a completely new market for us, but we expect to set ourselves apart with it. A wide range of so-called healthy juices is sold with additives to improve flavour or extend shelf life. With this pure coconut water, supermarkets can differentiate themselves perfectly."
After years of serving the European retail market under the name East4Fresh, Helien and her partner Rick Rebergen founded The Plant Based Traders in Portugal earlier this year under their current trade name. "We should have done it much earlier. This name perfectly reflects what we stand for. But we didn't expect the name change to have such an impact. We are now receiving enquiries from a completely different corner of the fresh produce industry, and that's interesting."
Sweet potatoes
The Portuguese sweet potato season has also now started at The Plant Based Traders, although later than expected. "The season was delayed by four to five weeks due to the bad weather in March and April. We had huge amounts of rain here. As a result, the organic sweet potatoes were planted later. The conventional ones, which we grow residue-free, by the way, were already in the ground by then, but their growth also lagged behind," Helien says.
© The Plant Based Traders
"Meanwhile, the retail programmes have started. We hope to deliver by the end of June, so we can supply almost year-round," Rick says. Besides the well-known orange-fleshed sweet potatoes, The Plant Based Traders is also increasingly promoting purple-fleshed and white-fleshed varieties. "Year after year, demand for these colours increases slightly. Traditionally, they mainly went to the ethnic market, but we also hope more retailers will join in. With the sweet potatoes from our farm, we prefer to work programme-based. Our small packs of sweet potatoes under The Plant Based Lovers label are also doing well. They have been picked up by an online retailer and a reputable supermarket in Germany, among others."
The Plant Based Traders is participating as an exhibitor at Fruit Attraction in the Holland Pavilion: Hall 6D04
For more information:
The Plant Based Traders
Helien: +31 683244661
Rick: +31 643929900
[email protected]
www.theplantbasedtraders.com