Two of Catalonia’s leading topfruit and stonefruit associations, Asofruit and Catalonia Qualitat, have announced that they will merge to form a new organisation that will represent 90 per cent of the fruit produced in the Spanish region.
The establishment of the new association, which will be based in the town of Lleida, but has yet to be formally named, is the culmination of three years’ of negotiations between the two bodies.
Asofruit president Josep Panedes and Catalonia Qualitat managing director Manel Simòn will transfer their current roles to the joint organisation.
According to Europa Press, the announcement of the merger comes after a difficult year for Catalonia’s growers, with poor returns failing to cover the cost of production.
In a statement, Calatonian secretary of state Josep Pexeu expressed his “total support” for the new organisation, calling the announcement “very good news” for the region’s fresh produce sector.
The region’s minister of agriculture, Joaquim Llena, called the development “the most important news for our sector in its history”.
He said the new association would provide the sector with a “strong organisation” to focus production and marketing that it had lacked during last year’s problematic campaign.
The new organisation will represent more than 130 companies that draw their production from thousands of fruit producers in Catalonia, as well as 62 importer and marketing firms.
In total, the merged association will be responsible for an estimated 1.5m tonnes of topfruit and stonefruit production every year.
