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Supporting Pakistani companies at Biofach 2016

2016-11-01T16:28:02+00:00February 18th, 2016|Tags: , , |

ProFound assisted three Pakistani companies that have organic certified products at the CBI stand on Biofach 2016. The companies presented a wide offer of natural food products and ingredients, ranging from dried fruits to liquorice. The first results of the trade show look very promising: one company was able to materialise an offer and the total potential orders well exceeded our initial expectations. The exhibiting companies are taking part in the CBI Export Coaching Programme for the natural ingredients sector in Pakistan. This programme builds the capacities of SMEs in Pakistan by providing tailored assistance and trade fair support. We [Read more]

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Roasted coffee from Colombia: Breaking the barrier

2016-11-01T16:28:02+00:00February 16th, 2016|Tags: , , , , |

Europe is the main market for speciality coffee worldwide, as well as home to the largest and most innovative coffee roasters. The European market demands a high volume of green coffee beans, but it presents several challenges to exporters of roasted coffee from producing countries. In partnership with organisations such as PROCOLOMBIA and the Federación Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia, CBI has launched a programme with Colombian coffee roasters whose aim is to enter the European market. In the context of this programme, ProFound is currently investigating the European market for roasted coffee with CBI expert Rafael Valcarce. The goal is to provide Colombian exporters [Read more]

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Introducing Myanmar to Europe

2016-11-01T16:28:03+00:00February 5th, 2016|Tags: , , , |

Myanmar is an important producer of pulses, beans and oilseeds. It is a market leader for sesame seed and one of the biggest players for (in particular black) mung beans. The country has a strong potential to become a significant source for Dutch and European buyers. Research by ProFound, done for CBI/RVO, shows that Dutch importers are quite interested to start working in Myanmar. However, there are strong concerns in terms of quality, in particular concerning food safety and traceability. Buyers are also concerned about CSR compliance. ProFound’s director Bert-Jan Ottens visited Myanmar in January 2016, to determine key bottlenecks [Read more]

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Exporting ingredients and fresh foods to Germany

2016-11-01T16:28:03+00:00January 4th, 2016|Tags: , , , , |

Inspired by cooking shows and the importance of healthy living, German consumers are more conscious about their food intake. They increasingly look for health, food and cosmetic products with natural ingredients and are switching to fresh foods in their cooking. For the German Import Promotion Desk, we looked into the markets for fresh beans and pulses, fresh herbs, baby vegetables, gums and resins and olive oil. For these products, we identified opportunities for developing countries by determining (potential) sources of competition, buyer requirements and relevant trends in Germany. These studies will be available on the CBI website, under the sectors Fresh [Read more]

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Promoting sustainable sourcing in Pakistan

2016-11-01T16:28:03+00:00December 22nd, 2015|Tags: , , |

Northern Pakistan has a rich biodiversity which is threatened due to poverty and limited options for sustainable livelihoods. ProFound joined up with the UNDP-GE Mountains and Markets project, which aims to improve the livelihoods of local communities, by providing sustainable solutions to use the rich biodiversity. In early November, ProFound trainers visited Northern Pakistan together with the Dutch government agency CBI (promoting imports from developing countries) and the Mountains and Markets project. To promote good collection and processing practices as well as sustainable sourcing from these mountain areas, the team visited local cultivation and wild collection areas as well as local processors [Read more]

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CSR improvement in South Africa

2016-11-01T16:28:03+00:00December 17th, 2015|Tags: , , |

ProFound helped develop company action plans for participants in the South African export coaching programme, as well as a sector strategy to improve sustainability in the country’s natural ingredients sector. We supported a sector analysis and company audits focusing on corporate social responsibility. Together with CBI’s CSR manager, experts and Sandra Kruger and Associates in South Africa, ProFound adjusted existing CSR tools to cater to realities on the ground in South African natural ingredients – particularly for wild-collected ingredients. These tools will also prove useful in other natural ingredient programmes. The outcomes of the analysis were quite clear: although awareness [Read more]

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Introducing Kosovo to the market

2016-11-01T16:28:03+00:00December 15th, 2015|Tags: , , , , , |

As a follow-up to the inception phase, ProFound has been actively involved in the implementation of Swisscontact-PPSE's interventions for Kosovo's food processing sector in 2015. At Anuga (Cologne, Germany), ProFound provided support to 12 Kosovar companies dealing with a wide range of products, from smoothies and energy drinks to preserved vegetables and mushrooms. ProFound's role at Anuga went beyond creating business linkages, also including capacity-building aspects to the exhibiting companies. Food Ingredients Europe (Paris, France) was directly aimed at the non-wood forest product sub-sector, and served as a solid basis to define the strengths and needs of Kosovo's companies. At [Read more]

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Training South African health ingredients companies

2016-11-01T16:28:08+00:00December 3rd, 2015|Tags: , , |

Effective export marketing requires planning: knowing how you are going to position yourself on the market and what that involves in terms of product development, distribution, pricing and promotion. This requires that you understand both your company and the market, and that you can connect the two. It also involves making choices on corporate social responsibility: what are the commitments your company wants to make and how should that be reflected in export marketing? Once this is done, companies need to make an action plan and consider which financial and human resources they need to put it into practice. IN2NI [Read more]

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Supporting South Africa’s National Conference

2016-11-01T16:28:08+00:00December 2nd, 2015|Tags: , |

The Department of Trade Industry in South Africa, with support from CBI and ProFound, organised the first National Conference on Natural Ingredients on the 17th and 18th of November in Pretoria. The conference brought together companies operating in the sector, including raw material producers, processors, exporters and final product manufacturers with representatives from the public sector and academia. In sessions with key speakers and panel discussions, the 180 participants discussed opportunities and actions at different levels of the value chain and looked at the business enabling environment. Together with CBI institutional development consultant Jim Tersteeg, ProFound consultant Robbie Hogervorst provided [Read more]

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Unlocking the potential of South Africa

2019-04-16T14:50:31+00:00November 30th, 2015|Tags: , , , |

South Africa is known for its unique biodiversity and natural resources. ProFound looked into the opportunities on the European market for these products, to support our sector development activities in South Africa, together with CBI. We analysed the potential of South African MAPs (medicinal and aromatic plants) and their extracts, essential oils and vegetable oils as natural ingredients in cosmetic and health products. Moreover, we developed a profile of the sector, looking into the potential to produce and export natural ingredients, South Africa's image on the international market and marketing strategies. The analysis was commissioned by CBI and can be found on [Read more]

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