IT Apofruit Terremerse Da sx Gilberto Minguzzi - Amministratore Delegato Terremerse, Marco Casalini - Presidente Terremerse, Renzo Piraccini - Direttore Generale Apofruit , Mirco Zanotti - Presidente Apofruit

Pictured left to right: Terremerse managing director Gilberto Minguzzi, Terremerse president Marco Casalini, Apofruit general director Renzo Piraccini and Apofruit president Mirco Zanotti

Two of Italy's largest fresh produce suppliers, Apofruit and Terremerse, have revealed they have established a new strategic partnership agreement that will see the companies work more closely to sell their products on the international market.

While stopping short of a full merger and preserving the autonomy of both groups of growers, Eurofruit understands a great deal of the companies' day-to-day operations – including production, distribution, branding, range segmentation and export strategy – will be managed centrally.

The two groups will also centralise their purchasing programmes for raw materials and services, as well as sharing packhouses and other facilities under a new model that will see Terremerse adopt Apofruit's existing information technology systems.

Terremerse growers will gain access to varieties distributed by Apofruit, with both companies establishing a shared varietal innovation and R&D programme.

The companies revealed they were planning to form an association of producer organisations in 2015, bringing together Apofruit and Pempacorer, Terremerse's fresh produce grower group.

According to Renzo Piraccini, general director of Apofruit Italia, the partnership will enable both firms to rationalise costs and position themselves better on the market, particularly overseas.

'Today the value creation game is based on an ability to be competitive on international markets,' he commented, adding that the partnership would develop a 'well-honed' export operation concentrating above all on customers in the Persian Gulf and in Asia, in particular Shanghai.

'We are going in the right direction,' he added. 'It's no longer a case of stitching two companies together to make one, but it's about finding the key points on which, by working together, we can really grow and bring value to our companies, customers and producers.'

Gilberto Minguzzi, managing director of Terremerse, said the agreement with Apofruit was the result of a very deliberate and careful decision, one on which the companies had been working for years.

'We see real possibilities to boost the value of each company's name and to hit the global market with a distinctive commercial strategy, with an even more complete range of products that will create even greater satisfaction for clients,' he said.