Italian citrus specialist Oranfrizer has dispatched its first container of Moro red-fleshed oranges for Brazil.
The Sicily-based company, which sells a range of fresh citrus and juices to markets worldwide, plans to send two further containers, one this week and the other next week, to the South American country.
The product will be distributed in high-end supermarkets in the state of Santa Catarina, the company's marketing manager Salvo Laudani confirmed.
'We are very confident about the new opportunities that the Brazilian market can offer to our oranges,' he commented. 'At least part of South America should not be seen only as a place of supply for the import of citrus fruit out of our season, but as an important consumer market.'
Due to arrive towards the end of the first week in February, the initial consignment represents the first time that Brazil, one of the world's leading producers of citrus, has imported blood oranges from Italy.
According to Oranfrizer export sales manager Sara Grasso, it is the uniqueness of Sicily's blood oranges that has allowed them to make such a breakthrough.
'This is the first time they have bought citrus from Italy and we are proud to start with a product as unique as the red oranges from Sicily,' she said.
'We are already looking at the possibility of beginning to ship some Tarocco when the fruit reaches the perfect ripening and pigmentation,' she added.
