Today, the organisation specialised in the cultivation of the Femminello siracusano cultivar and collects fruit from 420 hectares. The majority of the members has been following organic specifications for a few years, while the rest adopts integrated control measures.
PASAM is the leading producer of Sicilian lemons, which are then sold under different brands (Bellafruit, Biosiegel, LemonSir, Biofruit, Exzellens, Biovitamina) both in Italy and Europe. Sicily produces over 86% of Italian lemons (Monachello, Interdonato and Femminello Comune varieties) and PASAM produces a volume of around 12,000 a year, with a turnover of €2,200,000/year in Italy and of €4,430,000/year abroad.
What are PASAM's reference markets?
We sell our lemons both on the domestic and foreign markets, although 65% of what we produce is exported to Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, England, Denmark, Finland and Sweden. Our company cooperates with various supermarkets and wholesalers (Coop, Hofer, Klaas & Kock, Kaes, Europa Frugt, Zeilberger, Eosta, Bartels & Langness, Blampin, Lyon Select, Banagrumes).
Commercialisation
In addition to production and cultivation, the company is also renowned for packaging, which must aim at preserving the freshness and quality of the fruit. "We must provide final consumers with a final product that reflects the image our magnificent Sicilian citrus fruit has. Once graded and sorted, the fruit is ready to be placed in cardboard or plastic crates. Lemons are then sold stowed, loose or in Girsac or Vertbag nets."
How do you deal with the lack of lemons during the summer season?
In Siracusa, harvesting starts in October and ends in late June, so we import produce from South Africa and Argentina. Summer lemons are bought mostly from San Miguel Global, which has branches in Argentina, Uruguay and South Africa and with which we have been cooperating for the past 15 years.
"The most imported variety is the Eureka, though it does not have the same juice and essential oil content of our local lemons. Of course we would prefer to continue working with local fruit throughout the year, not only because we would like to keep supporting local producers, but also because our fruit truly is excellent."
To extend the campaign and become as independent as possible from imported fruit, Pasam's technicians have developed a programme to plant around 20,000 trees before the end of the year. This will include both late varieties such as verdelli and early varieties such as femminello siracusano 2kr on Citrus macrophylla rootstocks.
Certifications and traceability
The company implemented a rigorous integrated Quality, Safety and Environment management system that complies with the leading European standards and which has led to the attainment of the International Featured Standards (IFS), GlobalGAP, HACCP and UNI EN ISO 9002 certifications.
"In a world where transport is so immediate that it makes it difficult to recognise the origin of a product, we want our clients to know exactly where the food they buy is from. To guarantee traceability, we have implemented a system tho identify the origin of every single lemon. We believe Food Security is extremely important."
Contacts
Organizzazione di Produttori PASAM
Produttori Agricoli Siracusani Associati per il Mercato
Tel.: +39 0931 722 333
Fax: +39 0931 722 258
Email1: info@pasamagrumi.it
Email2: commerciale@pasamagrumi.it
Web: www.pasamagrumi.it