Asparagus

German trading and services conglomerate BayWa has entered into a joint venture with the largest asparagus supplier in Australia, M+G Vizzarri, through its New Zealand subsidiary T&G Global Limited, formerly Turners & Growers.

According to BayWa, the joint venture with M+G Vizzarri makes T&G one of the leading asparagus traders in the Southern Hemisphere.

Targeted annual revenues for the first year have been set at around €25m, corresponding to a trading volume of over 5,000 tonnes. By way of the move, the BayWa Group is strengthening its ties in the Australian market and expanding its international trading relationships in the Pacific Rim region.

BayWa said that In terms of strategy, T&G is striving for closer cooperation with its international partners. The new joint venture builds on 20 years of export partnership between Vizzarri and T&G, and allows T&G to improve its position in its dealings with the Australian food retail sector and its customers in South-East Asia.

Starting immediately, the new joint venture, trading under the name T&G Vizzarri Farms, will serve all of Australia’s leading food retailers throughout the year. Outside the harvest period, customers will mainly receive fresh asparagus from growing regions in Mexico and Peru.

The joint venture improves the availability of goods for T&G without the need to buy land for cultivation, BayWa added, and together, the companies now have access to goods from almost 1,000ha of crop land located in Cardinia near Melbourne, Victoria.