German agricultural politicians should take significantly more initiative to conclude trade agreements for German fruit exports in Asia: “If we do not get such agreements for Germany as soon as possible, apple producers in our country will have serious problems within two years at the latest. This is the reason why economic and agricultural politicians in Germany must now concentrate their efforts fully on such agreements”, demands Klaus Josef Lutz, CEO of BayWa AG, in the face of the just concluded export contract concerning dessert pome fruit between Poland and Vietnam. “Polish politicians have demonstrated that trade agreements can be negotiated and signed within one year instead of years. German agricultural politicians can learn a lesson from this”, states Lutz. Poland already signed contracts like these with Canada, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria und Cyprus.

The export of Polish apples to Russia had been banned in the wake of the Ukraine crisis and the subsequent Russian embargo. At the same time, last year's bumper crop of apples in Europe massively put fruit prices across Europe under pressure and in part threatened the livelihoods of apple growers. “Although marketers together with producers somewhat mastered this significant crisis, everybody understands now how much we need marketing opportunities mainly in the growing Asian markets. Our New Zealand subsidiaries that have already been successful in China show us what kind of opportunities are possible here”, explains Lutz. German apple producers respectively the marketers, however, so far did not have the possibility to export to Asia because of the lack of bilateral trade agreements between Germany and the Asian countries. “Other countries are already much further along, such as the Netherlands, for example. This is shameful for an export nation such as Germany”, says Lutz.

BayWa AG

BayWa AG is an international trading and services group with the core segments of agriculture, energy and building materials. The parent company was founded in 1923 and its head office is located in Munich. International activities are focused on Europe as well as the United States and New Zealand.

The Group generates its biggest revenues in the agriculture sector. The energy sector is the second large segment and includes the international business unit of renewable energies. BayWa also ranks among the leading suppliers in the building materials trade in Germany and Austria. Overall, the company generated revenues of around €15 billion and an EBIT of €146.8 million in the year 2014.

In the national and international fruit trade, BayWa achieved an EBIT of €25.6 million in 2014. The area of dessert pome fruit alone had a sales volume from nearly 195.000 tons.

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