Results hailed successful example of cooperation and cooperative integration
Green Fruits, the Oliva-based second-tier citrus cooperative that forms part of Anecoop, posted a turnover of €67mn for 2023/24 an increase of 21.8 per cent compared to the previous season.
The results were presented at the company’s general assembly, where a 5 per cent increase in member settlements was also approved for the 2023/24 season.
The cooperative marketed 107,000 tonnes of fruit, an increase of 25,000 tonnes compared to the previous year. More than 90 per cent of this was citrus (35 per cent clementines and 65 per cent oranges). The remaining 10 per cent was persimmons and avocados.
With more than 4,000 producer members, Green Fruits employs 1,400 people in the areas where its product management warehouses are located. It said the higher sales volume, combined with increased sales prices and the cost savings fostered by the cooperative integration model, has translated into results that continue to drive Green Fruits as an economic engine in its area of influence and consolidate it as Anecoop’s main citrus partner.
Green Fruits was founded in April 2018, the result of the merger of three citrus companies: Cooperativa Citrícola de La Safor, from Gandía; SAT Novacitrus, from Oliva; and the Alicante-based Cooperativa Agrícola de Pego, which decided to join forces to optimise their management and growth. In 2021, Copal, based in Algemesí, joined the company, and in October 2022, the incorporation of Alzicoop, from Alzira, was approved.
In 2023/24, the Castellón-based cooperative Soex-2 transitioned from being an inter-cooperator to becoming a partner in Green Fruits. That same year marked another milestone: the inter-cooperation agreement with Coalmar, the result of the merger of the Alfarp and Llombai cooperatives. Following this signing, Green Fruits markets all of Coalmar’s citrus production, which in turn will manage Green Fruits’ stone fruit.
These strategies improve management efficiency and reduce costs for the cooperatives, helping to boost their competitiveness and advance the positioning of their products in international markets.
Josep Vicent Salort, president of Green Fruits, said: “Faced with the slowdown posed by the fragmentation of our sector, cooperatives must advance by improving their business dimension as a key to facing the challenges of a global economy.
“At Green Fruits, this is our roadmap to becoming increasingly competitive and continuing to increase the profitability of our farmer partners. Our results each year speak for themselves, and that means we’re on the right path.”
Anecoop president Alejandro Monzón commented: “Green Fruits is positioned as a successful model of inter-cooperation and cooperative integration. Therefore, I encourage cooperatives to embrace this business model as a way to gain strength and positioning in the markets. Unity is also the best way to face the challenges our sector faces.”
