Chances of the agricultural market - Foundation Office Greece and Cyprus
Event Reports
Greece is in search for a new exprt-model. Along tourism, the potential of an ever-growing agriculture sector comes up to the surface.
Greece is the homeland of a series of fine agricultural goods. Yet, these goods dont make it into the European Market. This is because of the lack of well established sales- and marketing strategies.
On that ground and upon the initiative of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Greece, the Greek-German Assembly and the city of Langadas, experts and farmers in action came together and exchanged views on marketing-strategies and inovation.
They identified two major problems on the promotion of greek agricultural goods to the international market: First, the producers are too much focused on supplying the greek market; and second, greek farmers and producers are not keen on cooperating with one another. Hence, they miss out on all the benefits of cooperation, like the evolution of a regional market, or the development of biological goods.
Petros Michelidakis, the director of the Düsseldorf trade fair said: "First of all, greek famers have to research the target market, see its size and assess whether their products fit into this target-market. Then, greek farmners have to undertake some organisational changes in their structures, so that the product that is to be expoerted becomes compatible with its competitors in size and standard".
An other burdain to greek export of agricultural goods is structure of brokage that increases the price of the raw good and makes it unattractive to the international markets. Joachim Schalinski, expert from the "Lebensmittel Zeitung" shared his thoughts with the audience: "When i think of mgreek wine, I instantly think of the high price. Greek wine is excellent, yet its prices are not realistic. Nobody will pay 18€ for a bottle of wine, just because greek structures impose that price".
New waves and ideas come up in Greece because of the crisis. The young generation that is facing a dead-end in terms of unemployment is looking for alternatives. One of the alternatives that becomes increasingly popular is the involvement in agriculture, especially in the biological products and fine products. The discussion in langadas touched upon this aspect and aspiring greek farmers had the opportunity to get tips and know-hows from their german counterparts.