Cáceres-based Campo y Tierra del Jerte claims to have become the first Spanish company to send a consignment of stonefruit by sea to China following the signing of the import protocol in April.
The consignment of plums left Spain on 22 July and is due to arrive in Shanghai on 17 August, narrowly beating another Extremaduran company, Tany Nature, which carried out its first shipment in early August.
“This shipment marks the culmination of a project that we embarked on several years ago, transforming our orchards, varieties, production processes and packhouse together with the support of the Spanish authorities to enable us to reach even the furthest markets with high quality fruit,” Campo y Tierra’s overseas sales manager Raúl Herás told Fruitnet.
“It makes us the first company in Extremadura, Spain and the whole of Europe to send European plums to China by sea.”
According to the fruit producer and exporter association of Extremadura, Afruex, the shipment marks the beginning of a new chapter for Spain’s stonefruit industry, in which it must continue to seek improvements in logistics and postharvest processes in order to be able to meet the challenges of supplying such a distant market.
“China has been a priority for us in recent years. We’ve attended Asia Fruit Logistica for a number of years, three of them as an exhibitor, and undertaken several trade missions to the region,” said Afruex director Miguel Angel Gómez-Cardoso.
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