Dutch company The Greenery has unveiled a completely new branded pear as part of its ongoing strategy to develop value-added, club varieties that can offer consistent quality and availability in order to generate higher sales and returns.
The new variety, owned by NFG and known as UTA or Gold Sensation, will be marketed under the Dazzling Gold brand, with directors at the Dutch firm confident of repeating the recent success of another licensed pear variety, Sweet Sensation.
Speaking at today's launch, Philip Smits, chief executive of The Greenery, said the group was fully committed to developing its club varieties in collaboration with other trade partners in the Netherlands and abroad.
“We have made the strategic decision to continue investing in new varieties, notably in the topfruit sector with the Sweet Sensation pear and branded apples like Rubens, Junami and Wellant,” he said.
Bert Wilschut, topfruit product manager at The Greenery, said he firmly believed both Sweet Sensation and Dazzling Gold had a bright future ahead.
“During 2009/10, the first full commercial season for Sweet Sensation, we already had 400,000 trees planted in the Netherlands as well as a further 200,000 trees in the ground in Belgium by our partners,” he reported.
Planting in South Africa in collaboration with Capespan began this year, while in France new orchards are expected to be established in 2011. Over the course of the next three years, plantings are also planned in Argentina and Chile.
“Last season was all about establishing the brand in the market, and we tried to get consumers acquainted as much as possible with Sweet Sensation and we had a very good reaction from our customers and retailers,” added Mr Wilschut.
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