Fyffes Citrus has acquired Spanish citrus production company Medicitrus.
The Fyffes subsidiary gained the 40-year old company, which had specialised in the production, picking, treating, packing and transportation of citrus products for the UK, Ireland, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Spain and the US, in order to build on the Fyffes citrus brand.
The new venture will control the fruit from the field to the supermarket shelf.
Fyffes Citrus has a supply base of 150 producers in the major citrus production areas of Spain and more than 75 per cent of the product comes from growers directly associated with Fyffes.
The company supplies oranges and soft citrus from September to June.
The products, which are monitored by a traceability system, are certified to the BRC and ISO 9001-2000 standards. The majority of products have been certified by EurepGAP.
Fyffes Citrus plans to increase sales of Spanish citrus to the European market, with a focus on finding new customers, said managing director Ruth Castilla, who has previously headed up Medicitrus.
