Italian fresh produce suppliers, Apofruit, has formed a new alliance with one of the country’s foremost organic apple suppliers, Trento-based SFT, which will see the latter become part of Apofruit Italia.
SFT used to sell its 40,000-tonne apple crop through La Trentina but, around the start of the 2013/14 campaign, signalled its intention to leave and – as reported at the time – form its own producer organisation called Valle Trentini.
According to Apofruit, the new agreement will strengthen its own organic apple range Almaverde Bio and provide it with a greater volume of fruit for the development of sales in international markets, especially in the Middle East, southern Mediterranean, Asia and South America.
Today, SFT brings together approximately 450 producers managing a combined production area of around 770ha of apples.
It also has 27ha of kiwifruit production, 18ha of cherries, 2.5ha of plums, with an overall turnover of around €21.2m.
“As a group, we firmly believe in the model of aggregating supply and not integrating companies,” said Apofruit’s director general Ilenio Bastoni. “It’s an important difference and the SFT co-operative has seized on such an opportunity.”
Bastoni added: “We have created a harmony between the two companies aimed at protecting each one’s distinctive territorial characteristics and agreeing on a common commitment to various innovative projects that will bring value to their production.”
SFT director Armando Paoli commented: “We joined the Apofruit project because it is a growth opportunity for our products and partners, focusing on development of emerging markets and branding policies that require, out of necessity, synergies and strategic combinations without which we would hardly be able achieve our goals.”
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