Nova freezes the vegetable instantly with IQF technology. The process prevents the product from losing its original properties, thus preserving its freshness, flavour and colour for over two years.
"Ecuador is the only country that manages to produce broccoli all year round with stability in both volume and quality. We are also the only ones growing this plant in altitudes of over 2,500 metres, which gives us a very important advantage, since altitude is a natural barrier against pests. This allows us to reduce pesticide use, making them undetectable at the time of harvest," explains Xavier.
The crop is grown in the Ecuadorian mountains, which have the country's most suited lands for its production, with the provinces of Pichincha, Tungurahua, Chimborazo and Cotopaxi as the largest producers.
Broccoli takes 12 weeks to develop, with 3 to 4 production cycles per year. Xavier says that the plant's consumption is stable both in winter and in summer and that in recent times there has been an increase in consumption worldwide.
Europe's largest producers, Spain and Poland, devote most of their harvest to the fresh market and, therefore, frozen broccoli production fails to meet demand, making this market very attractive for Ecuadorian exporters.
"Ecuador is very competitive, with stable prices throughout the year. Unlike in Europe, we do not compete with the fresh market, since the vast majority of the volume harvested in our country is devoted to the frozen sector," says Xavier.
The country's processing capacity did not increase in 2014, which acted as a bottleneck and only allowed a small increase in exports.
"We'll open a new processing plant in two months. We seek to grow in volume during 2015 and we believe other Ecuadorian companies will also do so in the future. Even though the necessary investments, both in the industrial part and in the acreage's expansion, are high, which makes increasing our production volumes not an easy task, we have been growing steadily," points out Xavier. "We have the world's best quality product, and this is the result not only of the work we do, but also of Ecuador's excellent climate."