Twenty Bulgarian fruit growers have gone to Poland to look for new markets and partners at the POLAGRA 4.0 trade fair in Poznan. The event runs from 23 to 25 September, and the Bulgarian stand is run by the Union of Danube Fruit Growers, the organisation says.
At the fair, the union hopes to open talks with big retail chains such as Lidl and Żabka, which are also taking part in POLAGRA this year. Both companies are looking for new suppliers and products, and their presence opens the door to direct meetings with Bulgarian producers.
Lidl is a familiar name in Bulgaria too, but Żabka is one of the biggest names on the Polish market — more than 8,800 franchise holders run over 10,000 stores, and the chain has more than 25 years behind it.
POLAGRA brings together Polish and foreign food industry firms, along with suppliers of food production technology for hotels, restaurants and catering. Owners, managers and buyers from dozens of countries attend the fair, and this year organisers focused mainly on retail chains and on boosting exports.
The union wants to put Bulgarian producers directly in front of buyers and distributors from across Europe and show why Bulgarian produce belongs on shop shelves, in restaurants and on European tables.
At stand 17 in hall 8 of the Poznan fair, visitors can try fresh and dried fruit, juices, compotes, jellies and products made to traditional recipes.
"Bulgarian taste is well known on the Polish market. But today we need to make sure our producers can compete in a strong economy and a market full of opportunity," said Dimitar Rachev, a board member of the Union of Danube Fruit Growers. That is why a delegation of 20 farmers has travelled to Poznan, to get to know the market and use the Bulgarian stand to meet potential partners.
"We're glad the State Fund Agriculture and the agriculture ministry are backing us despite the hard times the sector is going through," added Pavel Spasov, another board member of the union. He said the fund and the ministry are covering the cost of their trip to POLAGRA 4.0.
More than 250 firms are taking part in this year's fair, spread across five exhibition halls. The show covers the whole food chain — from raw ingredients and production through processing and packaging to distribution and the end customer.
Nearly 100 carefully picked buyers have come to Poznan. They were invited through the Hosted Buyers programme, which arranges buyer visits. The buyers come from Egypt, India, Qatar, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, Georgia, Germany, Malaysia, Switzerland, Romania, Bahrain, the UK, Ireland, the Czech Republic, Lithuania and Slovakia. "Our goal is to meet them too, so we can weigh up every option for selling our produce," the union says.
The growers left for the fair at a hard time for the sector back home. "Fruit growers in Bulgaria face serious, worsening problems. One is low buying prices — producers often work at a loss because the prices don't cover the cost of fertiliser, sprays, fuel and equipment wear. Another big problem is fierce competition from imported fruit. On top of that come the effects of climate change, which are hard to deal with even with the state compensation paid out," said Nikolay Kolev, chairman of the Union of Danube Fruit Growers.
He said taking part in international trade fairs can't solve the sector's problems on its own, but it's one of the practical steps producers themselves can take.