Australasian fresh produce group Freshmax has announced it is partnering with Nelson-based apple and pear marketer Energie Produce.
In a further sign of consolidation on New Zealand’s apple export scene, the two companies will operate as one from the 2014 season, a move the partners expect to deliver benefits for growers and customers alike.
“We warmly welcome the Energie team of Ken Tippler and Nadine Tunley to Freshmax,” said Snow Hardy, Freshmax’s general manager of global pipfruit. “This partnership falls suitably into line with the Freshmax strategy announced earlier this month to strongly accelerate growth and development in the Pacific Rim.”
The merged operation is expected to market more than 1.2m cartons of apples and pears between domestic and export markets, putting Freshmax firmly in the top ten on New Zealand’s pipfruit export volume rankings, according to Hardy.
“The greater combined volume should enable us to get more efficiency out of our people, resources and shipping,” said Hardy. “And it should give us better ability to service our customers.”
Hardy said the two companies had been talking to one another for a while, adding that there are strong synergies between them that drove the merger.
“Nadine and Ken bring a wealth of experience and expertise to the table that will add to our capabilities and significantly boost the Freshmax pipfruit business,” he said. “They have a lot of experience in managing retail programmes that we don’t have currently for instance. Energie is very strong on retail programmes in Europe and the UK while Freshmax is stronger in the Asian arena.'
Freshmax said it now plans to implement the supply chain disciplines and systems that Energie has honed in servicing premium retail programmes around the world throughout its export operations.
In addition, Hardy said that Freshmax’s varietal intellectual property presented exciting opportunities for Tippler and Tunley to offer proprietary varieties to their existing customers.
Freshmax already has a joint venture pipfruit growing operation in Hawke’s Bay, which is expected to yield 300,000 cartons when in full production, as well as a smaller joint venture centred on pears in Nelson. Hardy said the company planned to partner with more growers to produce its proprietary varieties in the future.
