Peru FoodNews 2010 - GBR

20 A Global Business Reports publication
A Global Business Reports publication
21
you need to give something different to the
client. We are betting strongly on valueadded
products, and on solutions rather than
just commodities”.
Carranza asserts that its main clients are
in the dairy and bakery, carbonated drinks
and juices sectors. In a highly specialised
world of flavours, colours and fragrances,
the challenge is to make sure the formula
fits exactly the idea that the clients want to
materialise: “The development process of a
product can take a year. We incur a lot of
risk, therefore it is very important to monitor
the process very closely. Having a plant
where we can do pretty much everything,
from bread to ice creams, we can carry
out tests together with the client to ensure
that we are going in the right direction”,
Carranza adds.
For Federico Bauer, President of Montana,
this characteristic of the flavours business
places some limitations on how much the
companies in this field can export: “We sell
natural colorants to 40 countries and expect
exports to represent 20% of our sales by
2011. In the flavours market, however, we
need to be close to the customers with our
own laboratories. We cannot really develop
the export market from Lima as we need to
carry out tests and we cannot send samples
in and out”.
Giving a hand,
worldwide
A food product may be ready to be
consumed, but it will have no value for the
producer unless it reaches the customer in
perfect shape and on time. While problems
in this final link of the value chain may be
addressable in products like conserves, in
the case of perishables a mistake can be very
expensive, even disastrous. That is why the
companies taking care of this need to be
world-class. As Andrés Muñoz of Interbank
puts it: “I strongly believe that fresh
products offer great added value. If a final
consumer can buy a fruit in a supermarket
knowing that it has been recently taken
from the field, that’s fantastic technology
and logistics”.
The logistics process does not depend
solely on the efficiency of the provider,
but on external factors such as the state
of the country’s infrastructure and the
availability of cargo spaces in airplanes
and boats. Alberto Uribe, Director of
DHL’s Perishables Division, explains:
“In air transportation, Peru relies on the
connections made by passenger planes.
From Lima there are direct flights to
Miami, Los Angeles, New York, Madrid
and Amsterdam; there are no direct flights
to the other main markets. It is thanks to
the excellent quality of the different agro
products exported that they can reach final
markets in perfect condition in places like
South Africa, Australia or China after four
days of transit”.
Eduardo Rey, Managing Director of
Schenker, further develops on this issue:
“The Asian market is incredibly big and has
enormous potential, but right now there are
no direct flights. The four airlines currently
connecting Lima with Europe are sometimes
not enough for certain cargo requirements.
I addition to this, we are really behind in
ports: the Callao port has experienced some
critical moments”.
One thing is clear: logistics companies
need to be solid enough to overcome these
challenges. Emilio Fantozzi, General
Manager of Ransa, a Peruvian logistics
company operating since 1939, describes
the basics of success in this field: “If you do
not want the clients to do the job themselves,
you need to have better processes than
them; to offer more competitive costs that
they could have; and to make life simpler
for them”. No wonder having the latest
technology, software and a well-trained
workforce (Ransa employs over 4 000
people in Latin America) needs to be part
of the equation.
From machinery to logistics, food producers need the support of efficient providers.
(Photo courtesy of Ransa)