Ravenna-based producer association Minguzzi Group has become the latest company to join Origine Group, a strategic alliance of Italian fresh produce exporters focused on developing sales of kiwifruit and pears to markets around the world.
Minguzzi markets around 25,000 tonnes of fruit per year, sourced mainly from the Emilia-Romagna region. The majority of that figure is stonefruit – plums, peaches and nectarines, but the group also sells around 1,500 tonnes of kiwifruit, 2,000 tonnes of pears and 9,000 tonnes of apples per annum.
Origine Group president Ilenio Bastoni welcomed the consortium's newest member, suggesting the arrival of 'an important and successful company' would provide Origine with 'even greater marketing power to pursue our objective to commercialise with our brands the best fruits in the world market”.
The producer organisation's president Giancarlo Minguzzi, who is also regional president of Italian trade body Fruitimprese, said Origine's export-oriented outlook suited his own company's commercial strategy.
“30 per cent of our fruits are sold in the national market, while the rest goes to Europe and overseas, in particular Canada, USA and Asia,” he commented, adding that Origine had already proved its worth as a marketer of high-quality, branded pears and kiwifruit sold under the PeraItalia and Sweeki brands respectively.
“We join Origine Group because we believe in its project: joining forces to get the best value for our fruits in the international markets. This partnership is necessary if we want to have the scale to meet future challenges in the global marketplace.
Last September, Origine secured a strategic partnership with Chilean producer-exporter David Del Curto that enabld it to supply its Sweeki-branded kiwifruit for 12 months of the year.
The consortium, which was established by Afe, Apofruit, Fruit C2, Gran Frutta Zani, Kiwi Uno, Op Kiwi Sole, Pempa-Corer, Salvi-Unacoa and Spreafico, represents companies with combined turnover of more than €900m and production capacity for kiwifruit and pears in excess of 200,000 tonnes.
