CHANNELS OF DISTRIBUTION FOR FRUIT

There are a variety of producers, from small farmers to wholesalers. The shorter the distribution channel, that is to say, the fewer intermediaries there are between the grower and the consumer, the better the process can be verified and tracked. Broadly speaking, modern and traditional distribution channels differ in the number of agents in the chain and in their intrinsic nature:

• Modern distribution: is a channel in which large outlets, such as the shopping centers, belonging to a few companies, which move large volumes of fruit, bought from number of large producers with a growing share of the market. Thus, it is very concentrated and top-down. Because they move huge volumes of merchandise, shopping centers have a lot of power in negotiation and demanding conditions favorable to them (price, type of packing...). This has resulted in the reorganization and concentration of growers as well, and has created industrial fruit and vegetable operations. In the last decades throughout European countries, this distribution channel has been taking over.

• Traditional distribution: allows for greater variety and adaptation to a local context. On the one had, it includes direct contact between growers and producers, at stands in farmer's markets or at the farm itself. On the other hand, when there are intermediaries, the brokers who intervene are less coordinated – there are many independent, small-scale buyers and sellers - and sales tend to occur in auctions or on the open market. In the Maghreb and the eastern Mediterranean basin, this is still the most common distribution channel, though large distribution chains have started to enter the market in the last years.