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Leading Italian table grape company Agricoper has been awarded the prestigious Grappolo d'Oro award at this year's Macfrut trade fair in Cesena.

The prize, presented every year by CSO, Fruit Imprese and Corriere Ortofrutticolo, goes to the country's top fresh produce exporter in terms of both volume and quality.

The judging panel, led by Fruit Imprese director Luigi Peviani, CSO president Paolo Bruni and Corriere Ortofrutticolo director Lorenzo Frassoldati, was reportedly unanimous in its recognition of Agricoper as the sector's leading export player during 2010.

Run by the Liturri family, Agricoper's work in developing a highly respected table grape business supplying markets around the world from its production base in the region of Puglia had set it apart from many of its competitors both within the grape business as well as throughout the fresh fruit and vegetable sector as a whole.

In 2009, the company reinforced its position among Italy's three leading table grape exporters and was the only one to sell 100 per cent of its production outside of the country.

'It even managed to reach markets which were far away and difficult, without without ever compromising in terms of the quality of its product offering,' the judges commented, adding that the Liturri family's success was in part due to its ability to innovate while maintaining vocational traditions going back decades to the company's inception in 1938.

Accepting the prize on behalf of Agricoper from Emilia Romagna and Puglia's respective agriculture ministers Tiberio Rabboni and Dario Stefàno was director Gianni Liturri.