The best “recipe” for a good Market intelligence sauce

Guest article by Diego Castagnasso, a fresh produce and blueberry industry expert. Loud, opinionated, INFORMED! Diego, writes DC’s B-Side’s newsletter as he speaks and speaks as he writes. You can subscribe, under your own peril, to his newsletter here or visit his less fun (for now) website Drip Consulting.

Like in any sauce, you will be able to pour it over many markets.
In my case, the blueberry market is my favorite “dish” so I have it tuned for it.

I will suggest some ingredients but you can use the ones that you have or like best.

The ingredients.

• – Historic Statistics, (is the base) so always look for the best sources you can get. I suggest 10 years of aging but you can start with 3 (be aware that not big incidents happened in those years)
  • – Reports, if you can get them, they are a good way to give consistency to your source quickly and without losing a thing.
• – News, you need at least 3 sources, 5 are better. I have many more than 5 but the information tends to repeat itself.
• – Network, the wider the better. I mean CEOs are excellent, but be sure to have, commercial people, packing managers, Agronomists, logistics, and quality guys in there too. ( don’t be shy interact with as many as you can)
• – Friends, I know they are in your network too but they are less formal and you can get gossip from friends and it would be difficult to get that from the Network.
• – Buyers and sellers, The real day-to-day information.
• – Wine. It can be beer or vodka but you’ll need it.

Now that you have all the ingredients you’ll need a computer and a good place to read (there is a lot of reading involved in the process) and talk (talking is the second most important activity).

Remember don’t multitask concentrate because you need to be there to get the nuisance, the aromas, and the delicate flavors, so being focused is a MUST.

Step by step (actual instruction I used for the European Market)

• – Read the IBO report. in this case, for the specific region or country you are looking for.
• – Get the statistics from Agronometrics GTD, check the information you got from the report, and compare it to the more detailed statistics information.
  1. – Get the info on the flow of the blues where is the fruit going and where is it coming from and the prices informed. These prices will give you the first approach to where the market is, and compare it to other years and the volumes on those years.
• – Now is the time to read the news, you know what happened in the near past now you need to get data of what is happening. I get many but Fresh Plaza, Fruit.net, and Portal Fruticola are daily while Agronometrics Stories and the Italian Berry one a week.

You can now rest a bit, you have a pretty good idea so is time for the more interpersonal part of the recipe.

You know…. the one that involves talking to actual people.

• – Is time to get that Network working, you will call or WhatsApp them and check the accuracy of everything you’ve read and didn’t quite fit or didn’t understand.
• – Friends, this is the BEST part of the recipe you get to talk to your friends and work at the same time, Isn’t THAT GREAT? You’ll get good gossip from friends and you know they are not selling you “fake news” to harm your analysis.

After these interactions, you have a clearer picture of what is truly happening in the market, but the price part might be a bit elusive. so you go to the last step.

• – Buyers and sellers, you need to talk to the people to whom you sell or buy, to have a more accurate price info.
  Here is a crucial part of the recipe you need to be sharp, this is where all the “flavors” come together to give you the best Market intelligence.
  
  A tip, don’t think that they are lying because they are probably not, BUT more frequently than not, the buyer will give you the cheapest price he bought at and the seller the highest price he sold to

Don’t panic if you have been following the recipe step by step, you will have everything you need to serve a great sauce.

But what was the wine for?…

Oh “Little Grasshopper”… the wine is to oil those conversations, in person, because as in a real recipe, the wine is what you use to get the flavors from the bottom of the pot.
And of course, you can use it to enjoy yourself while cooking.

Now enjoy your time bringing together all the ingredients and making it into a mouth-watering sauce.

For those that prefer to spend the time differently, I got you covered too

Just schedule a CALL

Have a Great Week!!!

And remember, if you liked what you read, send it to a friend, if not unsubscribe…

PS: If you want or need to have a bigger network, I suggest the fairs Fruit Attraction, GP&FS (ex PMA), and Fruit Logisica. You might also go to the Congresses of your particular product closer to your objective market like the Berry Congress.

PS1: Wines… Well, I like Malbec and Cabernet Franc and Belgian beers, especially the Abbey beers. The important thing is the quality of the product, it should always be good.