On 20 July, consortium Melinda signed a contract with ABCz about the production of Gradisca apples. “It is a second contract within a month. The previous one was about apple strain Kizuri,” says Achiel Rijckaert of the ABCz Group. Melinda is going to commercialise these strains exclusively in Italy.
Left: Gradisca; right: Kizuri.
Two hundred hectares per strain
Rijckaert continues: “Melinda, a cooperative with a great image in Italy, is going to plant at least 200 hectares of each strain over the next few years. The consortium decided, after the evaluation of the test trees in their region, that both varieties have great potential to seduce current customers. We will start with 200 hectares per strain, which amounts to a volume of approximately 10,000 tonnes of fruit. This is just the beginning, to test the market. If the results are as expected, we can decide to increase volumes.”
Photo opportunity after signing the Gradisca contract.
Exceptional strains
The ABCz Group consists of the following companies: Carolus, Les Pépinières Grard, and Fresh Fruit Services. “Kizuri,a strain from the B3F stable, was selected by ABCz Group at an early stage, and has exceptional flavour and shelf life. In Belgian experimental garden PCF it consistently tests as one of the better strains. There is already a commercial contract in Germany with company Krings, which is going to exclusively market this strain in Germany. Gradisca is crossbred by Pépinières Grard. This is a strain with a sugar level up to 17 brix, and it is very suitable for export to Asian markets,” Rijckaert concludes. www.melinda.it
www.abcz-group.com
For more information:
ABCz
Fresh Fruit Service Europe
Maagd van Gent 22
B-9988 Watervliet - Belgium
T: +32 9 379 83 94
F: +32 9 379 07 38
www.freshfruitservice.com
ach@freshfruitservice.com