Growers of fresh produce in a few Asian nations have fantastic products however, they don’t always have the expertise to take them to markets. Some are sold at low rates on local market stalls and others are taken advantage of by large corporations without being offered an honest cost. One person who’s made a huge impact on a number of producers in different Asian nations has been Chris Catto Smith. Chris Catto Smith sees it as a mission to assist these farmers make a decent living and also provide a quality product to market in the local and international market.
“I was able to spend a considerable amount during my time in Vietnam together with my friend, Matilda Tran. We worked together to find approved routes for the sale of fresh fruits and vegetables that were largely run by Chinese traders as well as Chinese collectors who were in charge of financing and directing the entire program.
“We were fortunate to have an altruistic CEO of Metro and we could implement contracts for farming and, thanks to the assistance of local consultants in agronomy could get the agreements certified by Viet GAP first, and later Metro’s own certifications for quality This was the result of an important EU funding grant to help promote Vietnam and Thai fruits and vegetables exports towards Europe that I was able to draft the application for as a member of the steering committee which coordinated the grant in conjunction together with the agency that implemented it, Chiang Mai University Post Harvest Institute. Through a dedicated group of cross-functional experts, we helped to facilitate the rapid implementation of collection facilities and logistics of high-quality in the areas of origin for these growing regions of agriculture.” This was an extremely busy time that included the fast-paced introduction of a fresh-fish processing plant within Cantho.
The process involved fresh fruits and vegetables, including leaves, root veggies, salad, tomatoes, and vegetables. It was also for all of the Vietnamese salad veggies. Chris was involved in the development of teamwork as well as leading Vietnamese Agro-innovators like Nguyen van Dung, who helped farmers manage MRLs (get the use of chemicals to a minimum) and increase confidence with a contemporary retailing process developed through Vietnam with the help of Metro. A significant amount of groundwork was completed through Metro Fresh Project Manager Mathilde Thuy van Tran who worked with farmers on improving their practices in logistics and into a proper use of crates collection, grading and wash facilities that are as near as they can to farms, and simultaneously eliminating tiny pickups that were cruising down the roads carrying plastic bags stuffed with produce that had been damaged while when they were transported to the wholesale market. Thanks to a highly skilled logistics director Pham Viet Chung, we set up a an appropriate cold chain treatment system and purchased high quality cold chain trucks to be delivered from Lam Dung (near Dalat) from Lam Dung (near Dalat) to Ho Chi Minh City allowing superior cross docking in unimproved perishable hubs of handling capable of distributing fresh, premium produce straight to the stores.
“Metro’s collection centre was an original concept for Vietnam and was eventually closed and given to our rival, which allowed us to transfer into a larger facility to ensure that farmers don’t be required to handle different procedures. The company also facilitated collaboration between retailers on the standardisation of agreements with farmers.”
In the beginning, Metro Vietnam was purchasing around 60 tonnes of produce per day. This has increased with the increase in demand. The produce was not subject to traditional markets that were wet in which buyers typically bought their products overnight. It was then taken right from the collection centers towards the cross dock retail facilities, enabling farmers to pay on local delivery stations. In the past, farmers and collectors would have transport their goods, then attempt to sell it in wholesale markets, or hope that the retail buyers would purchase the item. Food losses were high, and since the traceability was not as good or controls on the cold chain as well as shelf life and quality was severely diminished. Chris believes that the accomplishment of the rapid changes was due to the very small group of skilled project participants, with the full support from the CEO Randy Guttery. The team was able to complete an ongoing programme of success for agro logistical and the heritage continues to benefit the farmers as well as consumers who want high fresh, high-quality produce at affordable market price.
Chris was also several years in Thailand for the development of the supply chain that supports the major three retailers. He also designed high-tech food-safe handling equipment. In collaboration together with Mathilde Thuy van Tran the pair then teamed up with Unilever in order to assist them with the cold chain issues that plagued Walls Ice Cream. It wasn’t just melting and scalding, but we uncovered the entire cold chain was lacking and provided an end to final intervention which allowed for final mile delivery of frozen ice cream in a temperature of the temperature of minus 23C within an ambient thermal protection device that was developed specifically to address the problem of cold chain. In the meantime the team was working with Makro to develop the conceptual for their new perishable central facility as well as the commute from Bangkok to Vietnam. It was in early 2020 and the moment that COVID19 was a reality. The needing to endure a voluntary quarantine before entering the Unilever office from an hotel room in Vietnam wearing two pair of unisex underwear as well as depression. The day that the quarantine was over is when borders were closed.
Chris was stuck within Vietnam for a longer period than he initially anticipated and for 18 months in all. Being a expert in the subject area has its advantages. In the wake of Big4 consulting firms unable to transport their regional experts to Vietnam which led to Chris getting involved in a range of tasks, among them a huge Vietnamese sugar supply chain together with his partner in consulting Mathilde Thuy van Tran as well as an additional logistics implementation contract with an expanding pharmaceutical business.
“I am finally reunited together with my Vietnamese consultants again, and securing a profitable (but, as it transpired very short-lived) deal from one of the largest firms that deal with reefers to establish the perishable facility for handling fruits within the Mekong. Vietnam is commonly referred to as the”fruit basket,” but it is also one of the least developed provincial areas Hau Giang had almost no logistical capability. The province was heavily governed by Chinese traders and a majority of the fruits were transported by a regular truck across the busy borders of China. It was estimated that there was a an 85% loss for Vietnamese fruits entering the Chinese market because nobody spent money or invested into anything that could provide high-quality handling. Often the border was closed to stop the flow of fruit of fruit from Vietnam and to cause price collapses. There was a backlog of trucks and high-quality fruit was becoming rotten in delay trucks as well as on the other part of the border, fruit was going for freezing and then frozen. It was a harrowing and heartbreaking bottleneck.”
One region on the Mekong was affected by the intrusion of salt into rice paddies. A few years earlier, the EU grant referred to earlier been used to increase the standards of agricultural practices and permit the cultivation of citrus. Salt intrusion was an important issue that was resolved by changing the land for more suitable crop varieties.
“It’s an everyday method to deal with salt on the soil, where you plant the land, and then put locally grown, salt-tolerant citrus trees on the land. It takes three to four years to develop The next task was to source premium cultivars such as pomelo pink, which can be plant onto locally grown citrus. Agronomists from the local area were able to invest top cultivars of high-quality that are seedless, they’re similar to a billiard ball. It’s a mixture of the two which is essentially orange, but ideal to mix with cocktails. The project’s small team discovered that there was at most 100 containers daily of uplift in the event that a container or a reefer firm could build the necessary packing facilities within the province. However, no anyone believed in us. Jackfruit and durian are the main products that are coming from the Mekong today, yet despite huge demand, jackfruit and durian was heavily influenced by Chinese cartels, and ruthless discounting of prices and was too difficult to get. The idea was to bring premium reefers in Cantho and establish a top quality packing company with world-class logistics, and then palletized loading into reefers there, and avoid the congestion of road travel and then sell Vietnamese Jackfruit in Shanghai between $60 and $70 100-$100 per fruit since the Vietnamese Jackfruit is gold in colour, not white-lemon similar to Thai the jackfruit. The jackfruit is extremely sought-after by Chinese. However, I wanted the logistics business to cooperate together with me on this needing an inventory of reefers.
“We were negotiating with the company, and we affirmed that there was a huge market opportunity, conducted the analysis of big data and then we arranged the town hall meetings that included the 250 growers the Governor of the Province as well as the People’s Committee – we were determined to introduce the logistics God to the market However, that logistics firm was sluggish and affixed with a bit of shattered self-esteem. The opening ceremony of the company’s Perishable Handling Centre it was a no performance. 250 farmers, officials from the national government, Cantho University Agriculture professors as well as our tiny consulting team getting ready to kick off the ceremony and over 250 enthusiastic farmers attended the official opening ceremony.
“No Show” and default of the lucrative contract. I’m in the middle together with my Vietnamese partner and asking: What can we do? It was a matter of other choice than to complete the work ourselves. We just took the initiative and completed it. There was a saying that I heard about the entrepreneur never having the chequebook. Two of us have put all our savings for the project even selling our family’s farm to make money, and we then scrounged up the funds needed to make some test shipments completed. The time was not yet at the beginning of COVID19 which was not the best moment for entrepreneurs to begin a venture that relies on reefers. In the beginning, you could buy one for $1800. in the beginning, you could get it for three thousand dollars. Then it was $10,000 (we all have nightmares of that time). We had 250 farmers which meant that the best solution was to establish the cooperative, and have it registered within a day in accordance with Vietnamese cooperative law it is possible to create a cooperative. However, the farmers or a small group of the founders did not have enough cash to purchase shares. Thus, the money was loaned to purchase shares of the business. It started with 250 farmers. As one of my Vietnamese coworkers, and I could not participate in the business but as a consultant. The chairman was chosen. The team was full of enthusiasm; the farmers were in desperate need but they also had gorgeous plants that were unable to reach the market. A fish processing plant licensed was located and then leased. It was a shabby old facility, but there was a part of the facility that was left unfinished, and was ideal to be a packing and processing building, and it was just waiting to be sanitized. If ever there’s the self-sustaining power, then it comes the work of a business owner. one who is a Vietnamese who runs his own company. We said that we would not give them anything in the first 6 months. we’d pay for their expenses and would reimburse them at the rate they charge for their services. The only thing we asked of them was faith, which is the result we received.”
Thanks to some remarkable networking efforts from the Vietnamese founders, such as Chris who phoned a handful of individuals he had met in the UK and inquired whether they could take on shipping, they managed to attract their attention and said that they’d have a look. Then we got orders for containers into the UK as well as one for Canada. “We received orders for a container from Turkey for 30 percent ready-to-drink coconut and 30% lime that was waxless and the 30% pink pomelo mixed order. In the time of our purchase, China was banning the import of pomelos to Russia which is why we were able to find buyers who were desperate to purchase our pomelos. We received orders for 10 containers.”
“But it wasn’t smooth sailing, as containers prices began to rise exponentially, owing to the fake shortage of container that was manipulated by shipping companies making use of COVID as a deceit that we booked containers, and were finding that price increases when we signed contracts with buyers, and the cooperative lost money. In order to test our patience, we were also able to get a shipment in transit to Turkey that was stuck in The Ever Green obstructing the Suez Canal.
“Then to add more pressure to the business, Russia invaded Ukraine, and immediate sanctions were put on all shipments that went to Russia in the following days, then Putin is online and announces that for every shipment, no purchase is limited to $10,000. We assumed that there was a loss of three packages however we were unsure of whether the shipment was likely to be rerouted or accepted and discarded, with the very high chance of paying for them, but we heard that we’d received 3 payments by the firm that was located in Russia however complete sanctions affected the market. In the end, however, we received word that our Suez Canal was cleared and we got a text message via the Turkish buyer, who said he’d been able to open our container. The container was quite good. The coconuts appeared a more brown. Would be considered a small discounts?
“We are now receiving our first shipment of fruits to Australia as well as New Zealand and are highly confident of very positive future growth forecasts for next year. All of this wouldn’t be possible if the shipping firm had not failed to pay on our consultancy contract. It’s just the way it is!”
The Cooperative has been awarded two awards across the globe, and the highly coveted Cool Logistics Global Award for sustainability and innovation. The outlook for the future is promising.
Chris is continuing his sustainable campaign with new projects in Laos regarding adaptation to climate change and Asia Development Bank project to increase the efficiency of maintenance for healthcare equipment as well as coordination of UNICEF or GAVI finance solar vaccine refrigerator deployment into remote health centers. He is currently working on logistics improvement initiatives in Vietnam.
More information is available here:
Chris Catto Smith
www.freshport.asia