The Summerfruit Company’s strategic alliance with Sunnyridge Farms has proved to be a huge asset to its business, sales director Ian Waller told FPJ. “The utilisation of shared assets and facilities has helped to streamline our supply chain and has greatly enhanced our offer to our customers,” he said.
The two companies are working on a berry project in Mexico that will enable them to offer a wider geographical spread on their entire berry range.
But Waller acknowledged that Argentina has experienced “a very difficult season”.
He said: “The extended late start resulted in a serious loss of volume and had an effect on quality throughout the season. The grade out of unsuitable fruit for the UK has been extremely high this season, but growers have worked hard to supply a high quality product.”
However, Waller maintained that overall berry consumption and demand have been very good over the last couple of months. “There are some exciting promotional campaigns planned for January which will ensure that the Chilean crop will be very much in the public eye and will I am sure help drive this very popular category to new heights,” he said.
