Five leading Spanish cooperatives have come together to form a new export organisation, named Unica Group, with the objective of improving sales and efficiencies, as well as reducing costs, throughout the companies.
The new company will be composed of five leading cooperatives from the Andalusian province of Almería –Casur, Ejidomar, Cabasc, Ferva and Cohorsan – which together farm over 1,800ha.
The five cooperatives produce an estimated 160,000 tonnes of tomatoes, peppers, melons and cucumbers every year, which have an estimated sales value of €166m, according to local daily El Almería.
As a result of these figures the newly formed organisation, which will include some 850 associated producers through the five cooperatives, is likely to become one of the largest such businesses of its kind both in Andalusia and within Spain as a whole.
According to Unica Group, the objectives of the new organisation are to both increase sustainable sales for producers and to improve efficiencies through a reduction in costs and greater productivity.
José Martínez Portero, president of tomato cooperative Casur, has been named as Unica Group’s inaugural president, with Cabasc president Francisco Martín Galdeano named as vice-president.
