avocados

A former product manager at failed Israeli fresh produce company Agrexco has expressed his dismay at the group's recent liquidation and the impact it could potentially have on the country's fruit, vegetable and flower export business.

Gabi Naamani, who was in charge of the company's avocado programme for more than two decades, said he felt the group had been let down by senior management who, he claimed, were unable to lead it out of its financial difficulties.

'The official reason for the closure is economic failure, which mainly occurred due to the mismanagement of the last general manager, David Bondi,' Naamani stated.

'He started his new job in hard times. But, in his nine months in charge, he failed to learn or understand the company's activities. He had no personal ability to identify the reality and wasted time with many wrong decisions and a lot of 'undoing'.'

The export giant, which was saddled with debts of more than €100m, went into liquidation in the first half of September after a court-appointed trustee admitted he had been unable to secure a buyer.

As a result, the partly government-owned entity which supplied Israeli fruit, vegetables and flowers to the world for more than half a century is no more.

'It may happen that somebody will buy the company name and brand (Carmel), but it will never be active in the same manner as it was,' commented Naamani.

According to the former avocado man, Israel's new fresh produce export landscape is likely to undergo a certain amount of upheaval during the coming months.

'The implications are that the Israeli export will lose its leading company and there may be some chaos,' he suggested.

'The new structure may contain many smaller export companies – some bigger, some less significant – which will bite each other and may bring lower results (and a lot of uncertainty) to the growers.'

The avocado, which used to be Agrexco's flagship product and a category in which it dominated sales to many markets, supplying 70 per cent of all Israeli exports, may end up the biggest loser.

'Now, all the exporters will have to struggle in the jungle without having a leader,' said Naamani. 'As a consequence, we may find tougher competition – either in the export markets or in the domestic Israeli market – which may badly influence the growers' return.'