Italian-owned apple brand secures partnership agreements with three of Chile’s leading fruit producers
A trio of Chile’s leading fruit suppliers have agreed to produce apples for sale under the Sambóa brand, which is owned by Italian company Rivoira Group.
Frusan, Magna, and Unifrutti will each plant 150ha of three varieties – Luiza, Venice and Isadora – in Chile’s Central Valley, after joining the newly formed Sambóa Network.
Marco Rivoira, CEO of Rivoira Group, said he was proud to present the new partners at Fruit Logistica in Berlin. “It was difficult for us to introduce the planting material in Chile and it took time to get the PVR protection,” he explained, “but now we are ready to start the first commercial plantings in 2025 and continue in the coming years.”
He added: “In these February days, the fruits from test trees of the early ripening Luiza are showing the first intense coloration and will be ready for harvest in about two weeks.”
The three Chilean companies were represented in Berlin by Frusan general manager Orieta Ramirez, Magna’s managing director Miguel Vial, and Unifrutti commercial director Cristián Matte.
“Chile has had difficult years in which many hectares have been uprooted and quality has suffered due to the warmer climatic conditions in the traditional growing areas south of Santiago,” noted Vial.
“For this reason, many producers have moved further south to find cooler climatic conditions for apple cultivation. But now, with these three varieties which have been selected to cope with these challenges, we have a new option in our historic growing areas in the Central Valley.”
Orieta Ramirez commented: “We were surprised to see the performance of these three varieties in Italy, where Rivoira already has a few hundred hectares planted.
“And now we are also seeing the performance of the early Luiza in the third and fourth leaf, in our warmer areas around San Fernando and Curicò, and that convinced us to be part of the project.”
Cristián Matte said he was also convinced by the brand’s global strategy. “We hope that these three sisters will give us a new impetus in the apple category, covering the super-sweet segment that is most popular with consumers around the world, also with special attention to our Asian customers.”
At the start of the week, Sambòa confirmed it had appointed Giulia Montanaro, former head of international relations at Italy’s apple industry association Assomela, as its general manager.
