The history of the Spanish group Garcia Ballester goes back to 1907. The head office is located in Burriana (Castellon). The commercial team is formed by the companies sofWeiss and gBFresh for the eastern and western European market respectively. The company has packaging stations in Burriana, Vasilisa and Tortosa and their own plantations in Catalonia (350 hectares, Andalusia (80 hectares) and Valencia (45 hectares).
"We produce, package and export most of the citrus assortment ourselves (50,000 tonnes). We collaborate with partners we have a had a good relationship with for years for the vegetables and other products we supply to other customers."
"We import from Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Egypt, Turkey and the Southern Hemisphere," says Marcel de Koning. The group recently entered into a joint venture with a producer who produces and packages organic citrus and vegetables.
The CEO of Garcia Ballester is also the president of the ASOCIEX, a group of citrus exporters from Castellon who have a joint program (ICSA) researching new citrus varieties. No fewer than 12,000 new citrus varieties are tested and tasted in the programme.
Marcel looks towards the Spanish citrus season with faith. "The coming season looks good, with better sizes compared to last year. I don't expect the early export stop from South Africa to the EU to directly influence the Spanish export."
For more information:
Marcel de Koning
Garcia Ballester
Daniel Balaciart,
4 Oficina 7 46020 Valencia
Tel: (+34) 963528554
marcel@gbfresh.com
www.garciaballester.es