Emerging markets offer growth for celery export

While living in Singapore, Chris Schreurs noticed a gap in the celery market for Australian produce. Driven by a love of innovation, tackling challenges, and a desire to positively impact health and wellbeing, he took over the family farm in Australia with an ambitious plan to expand and export to the Middle East and Asia. Schreurs’ inspiring story matches Rijk Zwaan’s theme at Asia Fruit Logistica to move ‘Freshly Forward, from Foundation to Future’.

Australian product on international shelves

Schreurs & Sons is a third-generation, Australian farming business specialising in celery, leek and baby leaf lines. With three properties spanning 1,400 acres across the state of Victoria, Schreurs & Sons is one of the largest suppliers of celery in Australia. Chris looks after the commercial and business operations of the business. “Ten years ago, my cousin, Adam Schreurs, and I purchased the business from the family. Since then, we’ve had a big focus on expanding and diversifying, particularly into export as well as developing our convenience stick range. I believed there were opportunities for Australian produce to expand its horizons in the celery market in Singapore, where there was a lot of produce coming from America. Now, the market is dominated by Australian celery, which is nice to see.”

An industry of creativity

“The vegetable industry is so dynamic, and you need to have an agile business to adapt. It's an industry where there's a lot of innovation happening all the time and if you’re interested in that side of things, which we certainly are, it's quite exciting. It’s an industry where you can be creative, and you're always looking for new ways and new technologies to implement into your business. We also play an important role in the day-to-day lives of people's health, wealth and wellbeing.”

Complementary varieties for a year-round program

“The Rijk Zwaan varieties have complemented our own varieties quite well. Over the summer, Sanjit RZ is fast growing and provides a bulkier, heavier stick, which is well suited to the local market. People like it because it’s nice and even, with a good colour throughout and the taste is quite mild. We also use larger sized celery in export, and Sanjit RZ works well. In terms of Kelvin RZ, it has a small but important window in our programme. Both varieties complement what we do and provide diversification in varieties, which also spreads our risk.”

Growing the export market

“The majority of what we export is whole heads and we supply directly to Singapore, Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), in particular Dubai. We certainly feel that over the next five to 10 years there will be more opportunities in Southeast Asia in what I call ‘emerging markets’. This includes Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Philippines and Indonesia. We already send celery to those markets through third parties, but for direct business, over the next five to 10 years, it's certainly a growth area for us.”

A long history of ‘freshly forward’ together

Schreurs & Sons’ relationship with Rijk Zwaan isn’t purely transactional. “My family has worked with Rijk Zwaan on celery varieties, collaborating with the company to share knowledge and develop new ideas. The relationship has always been strong and Rijk Zwaan varieties play an important role in our variety programme across a number of crops, including spinach and other crop varieties currently in trial for commercial production. It's always been an open-door policy with Rijk Zwaan and because of that we’ve enjoyed a welcoming and respectful relationship.”