The 18 producer cooperatives that supply Italy’s leading apple exporter, the Association of South Tyrolean Fruit Growers’ Cooperatives (VOG), have given their approval to plans for a major reorganisaton of the group's sales and marketing structures, Fruitnet.com has learned.
Since the beginning of the month, the association has been in consultation with its member cooperatives to discuss the measures, which it says will allow a greater level of consolidation and coordination within its business and enable it to push forward an increasingly market-focused commercial strategy.
According to Gerhard Dichgans, VOG’s managing director, the restructuring will see the Bolzano-based producer organisation’s 18 existing cooperatives consolidated into four pools – three with four members and one with six members.
From 1 August 2010, in time for the start of next season, these four pools will cooperate more closely on the logistics and packing side, while also pursuing joint sales strategies.
VOG’s markets, meanwhile, will be divided into a number of strategic commercial areas based on geography or client similarity, with no more than eight working groups led by individual cooperative directors and assigned to those strategic areas.
“What we’re going to end up with is four pools of cooperatives that are big enough to make economies of scale and be able to fund future investments,” Mr Dichgans told Eurofruit Magazine. “Single cooperatives are no longer in a position to cope with the challenges of the international market. The solution is to stay united and overcome them together.”
Georg Kössler, president of VOG, says he believes a unified approach will enable VOG’s members to establish a stronger position in the global marketplace.
“While on the one hand the volume of fruit production in South Tyrol is increasing, on the other hand there is a general stagnation of apple consumption, while in eastern Europe new growing areas are being developed. In short, the future will bring many challenges,” he says.
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