2016 was an eventful year for Brazil. President Dilma was deposed, many politicians were imprisoned, or are now officially accused of corruption, just like the numerous entrepreneurs and their companies involved in corruption schemes.
It’s going to take this country at least another 10 years to reduce corruption, bureaucracy and nepotism and eventually become a healthy democracy. The situation has caused a financial crisis in Brazil. And they’ve recently been dealing with a large drug gang war as well. Both inside and outside the prisons, these gangs are fighting their internal battles, resulting in dozens of deaths.
Was 2016 really such a bad year? The population took to the streets and, under the leadership of judge Sergio Moro, corruption is now being addressed, sending a clear message to anyone trying to get away with it. In this regard, 2016 has given people the hope that real, positive changes are on the way.
And what about the flower industry? Our wholesalers were struggling to receive all moneys and to receive them within reasonable time frames. People are spending less on decorations for parties and meetings, so the demand for plants and flowers is going down. This impacts the cut-flower market in particular.
Supermarkets managed to maintain and reinforce their strong market position. Many of our potted plants are distributed through this segment. During the past two years, we have welcomed many regional chains as new customers.
One of our big challenges for 2017 will consist of trying to sell more cut flowers to the supermarkets and ensure a healthy distribution among the various chains, so that we don’t become totally dependent on the largest store.
The Holambra auction closed 2016 with a 5.5% increased turnover, reaching 600 million reais (175 million euro). The target for 2017 is a further growth of 8%. Things went well in 2016, both operationally and financially. And we got a few new members.
We introduced a great, new container and we successfully finalised our RFID project. All trolleys and reusable containers are now fitted with RFID tags and everything that comes into and goes out of our buildings through the roughly thirty gates, is read and recorded. It’s a very modern tracking and tracing system. We’re going to make the technology available for our members and customers in 2017.
The biggest challenge for the coming years is the extension of our digital platform. But our board, the directors and the management are all supporting the current plans and we’re hoping to make vast progress with regards to digital trading in 2017.
Last November, we welcomed a delegation from Plantion, (the auction in Ede, Netherlands); we exchanged information about the digital market place and discussed what we can learn from each other. I’m sure that this new collaboration will generate plenty of ideas!
Does that make 2016 a successful year? Well, we feel that we’re on the right track and we’re happy that we’re all set for further growth. To actually make it happen, that will always be a challenge!
General manager Veiling Holambra, Brazil
