The Difference a Little Box Can Make
While in Berlin at the Fruit Logistica Show, We had the opportunity to meet with several different exporters of Rwandan Hass avocados. They all said the same thing; “We would love to have an opportunity to combine efforts to improve the overall products and services being exported from Rwanda to the world.”
As the supply chain currently stands, There is very little coordination between the individual exports in Rwanda. That means that in many cases there are redundancies that hinder their ability to market their products in a global economy. In many cases, a truck from one exporter and a truck from another exporter is driving down the same road, from the same district, into the same pack-house in Kigali (the capital). Shipments are being sent out of Rwanda to the same country on the same day but not as one large shipment; rather as two different shipments from two different exporters.
No where is this inefficiency more telling than in their packaging boxes. In fact, this lack of coordination has lead to major losses for several of the exporters. Daniel, an exporter we have been working with for several months lost an entire shipment to Berlin and $8,000 in product because the boxes where not strong enough to support the weight of the avocados and they were crushed by the time they reached their final destination!
The ability to get fresh agricultural products from Rwanda to key distributors and end-users in other countries is highly dependent on strong, efficient, good looking packaging. But, because every individual exporter is purchasing their own boxes with their own purchase order, they are not able to afford the quality of packing material that is required to, both survive the long journey on an airplane/truck to Europe, as well as representing the country of Rwanda well. As well, there doesn’t appear to be any concise standards for boxes so vegetable packers simply take what is readily available without fully understanding the competitive dis-advantages and economic downside of poor packaging.
The current box style used by all exporters
This was heard over and over again from buyers while standing in the Rwanda booth: “Our customers love your avocados! They stay ripe 2 extra days on the shelf. but your packaging causes too many issues in transport. Fix the packaging, and we will purchase more!”
What an easy solution! Umubano Group has identified the packaging supplier, and we have already started the process of upgrading the boxes for these exporters. By improving the quality, situations like Daniel’s loss of an entire $8000 shipment will not occur. And just as important, Rwanda will be represented to the world as it should! As a quality producer of quality products.
The new box style with reinforced corners and a tongue and groove design made to stack high without the risk of crushing the product.