Buying channel
Oranges for a wholesale market stand
A stand on a wholesale market takes what the week offers and moves it within days. Two things settle the deal before the fruit does: whether the pallets are bought outright or taken on commission, and when the money changes hands. Fresh fruit is perishable in law as well as in fact, and the payment window written for perishables is the short one.
The figures
| What it buys | Pallets of graded fruit, several sizes at once |
|---|---|
| Format that fits | The standard telescopic box |
| How it buys | Spot, week by week, against the day's price |
| Two contract shapes | Firm sale, or sale on commission with settlement afterwards |
| Payment for perishables | Capped at 30 days by Directive (EU) 2019/633, within its turnover thresholds |
| Question it asks first | What is available this week, and at what price |
What it changes on an order
You take fruit on commission
The figure discussed at loading is then an expectation and the real number arrives after the sale. Agree what is deducted, who carries fruit that does not sell and how the settlement is evidenced, because all three change what the grower actually receives.
Your stand has to be full every morning
Continuity beats a good price on a single load. A supplier who goes quiet in February costs more than the cent per kilo saved in December, so ask which weeks are covered by the same grower before the first pallet moves.
Your accounts team sets the payment run
Perishable agricultural products carry a shorter legal payment window than ordinary goods, and it applies between parties that fall inside the turnover thresholds of the directive. Check which side of those thresholds both companies sit on before terms are agreed.
What this note does not settle
- We have not confirmed that we supply market stands, in what volume or on which terms. Sales channels, minimum quantities and payment conditions are all open with the grower.
- The unfair trading practices rules apply according to the turnover of the two parties, so they do not reach every transaction. Your legal adviser decides whether your case is inside them.
- Market fees, entry rules and commission rates belong to each market authority. They sit outside anything this site can tell you and change from one city to the next.
Bought outright, or sold on your behalf
Two arrangements sit behind most market trade and they are not variants of one another. In a firm sale the pallets belong to the stand the moment they are accepted, and the price is the price. On commission the fruit stays the grower's until it sells, and what comes back is a settlement with the market and the intermediary already deducted. The same load moves happily under either.
Where commission is the arrangement, the detail is the deal. What is deducted and at what rate, who decides when a slow line gets marked down, who carries fruit that never sells at all, and what document evidences the sale. A grower reading a settlement three weeks later without those answers cannot tell a bad week from a bad arrangement.
The clock that runs on perishable goods
Fresh produce carries a shorter legal payment window than most goods in the European Union, and the rules on unfair trading practices cap how late payment for perishables can fall. They bite between parties whose turnover sits inside the thresholds the directive sets, so the first question is whether both companies are inside them at all. Your own adviser answers that faster than a supplier can.
Continuity is the other thing this channel rewards. A stand that has to be full every morning of the season values a grower still there in February above a sharp price in November. Ask early which weeks one supplier covers, and where the campaign hands over to somebody else's fruit.
Talk to the grower
Tell us the variety, the sizes and the delivery week you need. You get a delivered price and what we can commit to in writing, from the person who picks the fruit.
The grower handles enquiries. Response times are still to be confirmed.