Greek peaches are famous for their juicy, fragrant flesh.
That makes them very popular for exports, especially in Eastern Europe, where large, reddish peaches are preferred over their smaller counterparts.
Although this area – mainly Russia – had already attracted Greek exports of peaches for a long time, it took more than just quality to really take over this mushrooming yet demanding, market.
In 2005, Nikos Koutliampas became head of the ASEPOP Velvento agricultural cooperative – situated in Kozani prefecture, in the region of Western Macedonia - which was one of the most active groups of peach producers.
He applied modern advertising and marketing techniques, largely unknown before to this traditional business, such as participating in national expos in order to both promote the products and monitor the competition. That modern approach proved very successful, as is witnessed by the doubling of peach exports to Russia over the last few years. Actually, 50% of last year’s crop was exported. This year the percentage of exports is expected to rise even further, given the fall-off in domestic demand.
