What is the most popular fruit in the world? Of course a banana! Demand for it is guaranteed. But it is not always possible to only deliver yellow fruits safe and sound to the consumer. We will talk about how bananas are transported in an article.
Market Review
It is hardly possible to say that this kind of business is stable. Seasonality and the ever-changing supply volumes of competitors play a role. For six months of the year, the fruit market is filled with local goodies, so bananas fade into the background.
But with the onset of cold weather and until the summer, suppliers have the opportunity to make up for all losses, because during this period bananas become almost the only fruits available to consumers. Since December, prices have risen sharply, in just one week, the increase in value can reach twenty-thirty percent. At the same time, the demand market is expanding.
A new supplier of bananas to Russia will certainly face competition, because today in our market in this segment there are three leaders who have been supplying these fruits to the country for a long time. These are the Banex Group (PrimaDonna), Tender (Magnit chain of stores) and JFC (Bonanza). Their dominant positions, supply volumes and experience in business cause difficulties for new entrants to enter the market. A newly made banana supplier should carefully consider an advertising campaign, otherwise it will most likely fail.
Is there any reason?
According to experts, in order to transport a container of beloved fruits of all to the country, provided that they are purchased immature and subsequently brought to a ready state, you will have to spend about 700-800 thousand rubles. Earn the same can be about 1.2 million. The risk that the product will not be sold is minimal. So, the sense of doing such a thing, of course, is.
Where to buy bananas
Today, the vast majority of these fruits (approximately 90 percent) are marketed by five companies based in the USA (Dole and Chiquita), Ireland (Fyffes), Chile (Del Monte) and Ecuador (Noboa, also called Bonita). However, the transportation of bananas from these countries due to their considerable remoteness will be very expensive, and this will undoubtedly affect the cost of fruits. It is more advisable to buy goods from manufacturers that are geographically closer.
Suppliers should be sought in India. For example, the Indian company Naushie Exports is a producer selling bananas at three dollars per box (about 13.5 kilograms), provided that the minimum purchase lot is 1540 boxes. Thus, at a time you will have to order goods worth more than one hundred sixty thousand rubles. Another beneficial banana-producing country is China.
Contact manufacturer
There are special Internet portals for this. Using simple navigation, you can select the product you need and see the offers of the suppliers, as well as contact them when you find the suitable option. Manufacturers publish all their coordinates on the site: phone numbers, office addresses, email, so it’s easy to establish direct contact.
Required documents
Before contacting suppliers, you need to register an activity. The optimal legal form for such a business as transportation of bananas is LLC.According to the legislation of Russia, activities in the field of import of food, fruits and vegetables are not required to be licensed. But imported bananas are subject to certification and declaration. The certificate confirms that the fruits comply with safety requirements, and the declaration - with state standards.
When importing each consignment of goods will have to receive a new declaration. It is issued only to residents of Russia, that is, the applicant can be either a Russian manufacturer, an importer registered in the country, or a Russian representative of a foreign supplier. On average, you will have to pay fifteen to twenty thousand rubles for the declaration. Obtaining a certificate will require half the cost. It should be noted that the legislation of the Russian Federation does not limit the volume of delivered fruit.
Transportation Features
On average, three to four months are spent on transportation and logistics. From the producer country, bananas are sent to the destination country by refrigerator. For example, the cost of transporting one container of fruit six meters long from China to St. Petersburg will be up to one hundred and fifty thousand rubles. By time, transportation of bananas will take thirty to fifty days. The next stage of transportation is by rail. The shipping price will vary depending on how far the destination city is from the port.
Business specifics
Damage to the goods during such a long-term transportation does not occur, because bananas ripen not on palm trees, but already in the warehouse. They are plucked by large ligaments still completely green, when only four months have passed since the appearance of the fruits. One bunch of fifty-one hundred and fifty bananas weighs about eighty to ninety kilograms. They are divided into smaller ones (such as we see in supermarkets), washed and sorted. Fruits with stains and damage are thrown away, and the rest are packed in special protective boxes made of fiberboard, and distributed in refrigeration units around the world.
Still, there is a high risk that bananas will go bad during transport. It is in order to avoid premature maturation that they are transported in the holds of refrigerated ships, where the temperature remains at fourteen degrees of heat. Therefore, fruits are still ripe on shore. Transportation of bananas on the ground to the destination should be carried out as soon as possible, because just during this period the greatest losses occur.
If you do not comply temperature condition at least a couple of degrees, the fruits can develop various diseases, so you should be very responsible about the rules for storing fruits. For example, if the temperature in the warehouse is below fourteen degrees, individual banana cells will die, which will cause the fruits to blacken. As a result, the presentation will be lost, there may be problems with the implementation.
How to speed up the ripening of bananas
Many suppliers achieve artificial ripening. Ethylene is used for this. It is supplied from cylinders to the storage chamber at a concentration of one cubic meter of gas per one thousand cubic meters of air. Only when ethylene is continuously delivered to the fruit during the day is an effect on them achieved, therefore suppliers often use automatic gas supply systems.
To equip the aeration chamber, you will need certain equipment, namely:
- air coolers, condensers;
- compressor unit;
- humidification and ventilation systems;
- ethylene supply system;
- remote monitoring system;
- dosing control processor.
The cost of equipment will depend on the size of the equipped camera. On average, the price of a ventilation system is 50-90 thousand rubles, a humidification system - 120-250 thousand rubles, refrigeration and heating units - up to 700 thousand rubles, an ethylene generator with concentrate - 70 thousand rubles.Taking into account additional materials and installation costs, the finished camera will cost about one and a half million rubles. You can order a turnkey camera.
Sales of goods
To establish the marketing of fruits, you need to agree on cooperation with grocery stores and supermarkets. However, there are nuances in this matter. So, if you deliver goods to large supermarkets, as a rule, your task is only to arrange the transportation of bananas to the warehouse of the store. That is, the process of fruit ripening in this case does not concern you.
Such large retail outlets have their own equipment for proper storage. If you intend to deliver fruits to markets or small shops in an already matured form, then you will have to equip a room for storing bananas and equip it with refrigerated containers and refrigerators.
Keep in mind that sellers are guided by the quickest possible sale of products, so when choosing between price and quality, they will give preference to the second option, that is, they will pay more, but they will get marketable fruits.
We hope that the article helped you understand the specifics of the banana business. Good luck
