Veiling Hoogstraten has been selling strawberries ever since it was founded.
An important step in the growth of Veiing Hoogstraten in the direction of further concentration of strawberry supplies was the cooperation since 1996 with the Profruco auction in St. Niklaas (East Flanders–B.) and a year later with CLTV Zundert (North-Brabant - Nl.).
The strawberry throughput was 4,100 tonnes in 1986, 8,600 tonnes in 1996 and exceeded 20,000 tonnes in 2006: a five-fold increase in 20 years.
At the beginning of 2006, the cooperation between the three partners was confirmed by setting-up of the In-Co joint venture in which the participants clearly demonstrated their determination to continue down their chosen path, and extend their cooperation to other forms of activity and different products. |
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In-Co has a voluminous and diverse offering:
- 25,000 tonnes of strawberries
- 60,000 tonnes of tomatoes
- 20.000 tonnes of peppers
- 15,000,000 pcs. cucumbers
altogether, no less than 110,000 tonnes of produce.
After one year of discreet cooperation, In-Co is now 'at cruising speed'.
The management of In-Co consists of 3 members for each affiliated auction, the Chairman, a director and the manager. This nine-strong group meets every 6 weeks and considers the actions to be taken. The various sub-fields are: administration, product and quality, commercialisation and logistics were each put under the microscope and progress discussed.
Jack Roelands, the chairman of CLTV Zundert, is also chairman of In-Co. Gaston Opdekamp, the director of Veiling Hoogstraten, is its director.
At the beginning of 2010 Waaslandse Veiling Profruco merged with Belgische Fruitveilingen (BFV) to form a single cooperative. The strawberry growers sold their BFV shares and became members of Veiling Hoogstraten. The strawberries produced by Profruco growers were already traded via Veiling Hoogstraten, so in that respect nothing has changed. In-Co, however, continued to operate and achieved a joint turnover in excess of 157 million euro in 2010.
Tangible results of these developments:
- preparation of a single Joint Market Organisation dossier dated 15/09/2006
- use of the same accounting software
- administrative integration with the emphasis on smooth communication
- common packaging purchasing policy
- exchange of rolling stock
- shared use of packaging machines
- joint coordination and skills training of quality assurance employees
- coordinated application of quality procedures and certificates at each participating auction house
- common commercial client approach
- common communication approach to producers via In-Contact
This approach continued in 2011 with a focus on creating an unequivocal profile for In-Co, investment in a durable and appropriate infrastructure and the specific presentation of In-Co to relevant members and clients
more information on www.in-co.be
 
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