Anecoop press conference

Leading Spanish fresh produce marketing organisation Anecoop has this week announced that it achieved a record turnover in the 2007/08 campaign, despite seeing citrus volumes drop during the period by more than 15 per cent.

In a statement, the Valencia-based company said its turnover for the campaign reached a new high of €427m, which represented a 2 per cent increase from the previous campaign’s total of €420m.

However, the rise in turnover came in spite of a decrease in overall marketed volumes by 10 per cent year-on-year, during which 565,000 tonnes of fresh produce was sold.

The results, which were released at Anecoop’s annual general meeting in Lorca, Murcia, were described by the organisation as “positive” as they had been achieved during a campaign that was affected by an adverse climate and the current economic situation.

Speaking at the event, Anecoop president Juan Safont said: “The positive thing for us, as a commercial company and for our growers, is that we have increased the volume of sales by 2 per cent and have improved the profitability of our production in general terms.”

The company’s managing director, José Maria Planells, added: “This campaign our growers have received almost double for each kilo of quality citrus sold than they received during the previous campaign. This is a positive figure if we take into account the fact that our marketed volumes of this product decreased by more than 15 per cent.”

Anecoop sales director Paco Borrás told Fruitnet that the company expects to market between 620,000 to 630,000 tonnes of fresh produce this campaign, of which some 50 per cent will be accounted for by citrus, with the remainder comprised of a huge variety of products, from melons to berries.