Spanish tropicals specialist Trops’s sales are on course to reach €50m for the 2014/15 season, a 32 per cent jump on the previous year. Managing director Enrique Colilles said the company expected its sales volume to reach 27,000 tonnes – including 9,000 tonnes of mangoes and 17,000 tonnes of avocados.
The increase was due to the incorporation of new producers into the group, which now counts around 2,300 member growers in southern Spain, and a larger crop. Production of mangoes and avocados rose significantly in the province of Málaga in 2014/15, the former rising to 20,000 tonnes compared to 7,000 tonnes in 2013/14, while avocado output reached 47,500 tonnes, up from 40,000 tonnes last season. The company’s solid performance was also due to strong prices across Europe.
Colilles said the company was now looking at the possibility of bringing forward planned investments in new capacity at its packhouse in Vélez-Málaga from 2018 to 2016. Trops is due to inaugurate the latest phase of its expansion later this week. It consists of a €17m building housing a function room, restaurant, shop and petrol station.
Trops is Spain’s biggest grower and marketer of avocados and mangoes. It exports to 22 countries and 10 per cent of its production is certified organic. In addition to its two main products, the company also produces smaller quantities of lychees, kumquats, cherimoya and loquat and herbs such as parsley and coriander.
