New season citrus from Peru’s Consorcio de Productores de Fruta (CPF) will soon be available in supermarket produce aisles, following an announcement by Total Produce that it is due to take delivery of the first consignments of Malki-branded satsumas of 2014.
CPF, Peru’s largest exporter of citrus and avocados, is made up of 53 growers, all of which are members of the cooperative, a business model that is not often used in the Andean country.
“The bundling of marketing, export activities, knowledge and experience makes the cooperative a unique exporter that can guarantee a homogenous and high-quality product,” Total Produce said in a statement.
Since its establishment in 2001, the cooperative has experienced tremendous growth in volume each year. To effectively market that volume, intensive collaboration has taken place in recent years with ProCitrus, the marketing organisation for Peruvian citrus, and the doors were opened not long ago for export to China and Mexico. Export to Japan, Korea, Brazil and the Middle East also appears to be possible in the near future.
Nevertheless, CPF continues to be a strong player in the current market areas. “We have been working together with Total Produce from the very start and expect to intensify our collaboration in the future in order to get our citrus into the fruit bowls of European consumers,” said the CPF’s commercial manager Marianela Rodriguez.
