With all the talk of tight margins and market pressure it’s interesting to see a new City analysis claiming fresh produce companies are on a more solid financial footing that many of the big fmcg manufacturers.

It’s always difficult to draw too many conclusions from a sample of just a few companies, but it’s good to see that much fewer of the major fresh produce companies are in the danger zone and at risk of going under than the average in other sectors of food production (see page 4). Many have even improved their “health score” in the past 12 months.

Growers, packers, marketers and importers have become adept at streamlining their businesses in recent years, stripping out cost and operating at the maximum efficiency.

While margins in many cases remain far too tight for comfort, this is reflected right across food production and it suggests that those companies that can get through this period of economic crisis will be very well placed to prosper once it is over.

Hats off to Newmafruit too for being the only fresh produce business to be named in the Real Business Hot 100 list (page 4). It might not be the biggest company in the trade, but it is rapidly growing turnover and, importantly, profits.

There are some real success stories amidst the gloom and uncertainty, and it’s important to celebrate them.