Three leading Catalan fresh produce companies have revealed that they are in negotiations to create a new topfruit and stonefruit specialist, capable of producing 100,000 tonnes of fruits and vegetables every year.
Girona-based apple regulatory organisation PGI (Protected Geographical Indicator) Poma de Girona, fellow apple producer Fruits de Ponent – based in Lleida – and stonefruit specialist Cooperativa Albatarra are now jointly marketing their products, with a view to eventually unifying their three businesses.
Poma de Girona’s Venanci Grau told Fruitnet that the three entities would be sharing a stand at this year’s Fruit Attraction trade fair in Madrid in November, as part of a move to create a new, combined company “within one to two years”.
“We want to have a multi-product company that can offer apples, pears and stonefruit together,” he said. “At the moment, we are working together, but the idea is to form one business from the three companies in the future.”
For the coming season, Mr Grau said that producers in Catalonia expected to have around 10 per cent less production than last year, with harvesting likely to begin around a week late in early August.
However, he stressed that production was expected to return to “normal” levels from last year’s exceptionally large harvest.
Poma de Girona’s 90 member-growers were likely to produce between 45,000 to 50,000 tonnes of apples between August and November this year, Mr Grau added.
