"If you don't work with large distributors, you're out of the game"

The Catalan company has completed the current citrus campaign two months earlier to be able to start moving from its facilities in La Galera to a new warehouse with twice the capacity in Alcanar, Tarragona. "Our family has more than 70 years' experience in the production of clementines and oranges. Since 2012, when we founded the company Royo Fruits to handle and export our own production, we have recorded continuous growth, and after our experience in traditional markets, we are prepared to supply large supermarket chains with abundant volumes, and the old facilities had already become too small.

 

The new warehouse, which will become operational in September with the start of the 2017/2018 campaign, will have 5,000 square metres, plus 20,000 square metres for cargo space and other activities. "We will have state-of-the-art machinery with a line dedicated to citrus with leaf and another one for conventional citrus," explains Alfonso Royo. "We will be able to offer supermarkets the formats they demand from us, thus making an important quality leap. It is a necessary investment."

Royo Fruits has 125 hectares of own crops, with clementine varieties such as the Clemenules and Clemenrubi and the whole range of orange varieties, from the earliest to Navelinas and the Valencia Midknight. Moreover, they make purchases to other growers, selling about 6 million kilos per year; volumes that they expect to double in the coming years with the new facilities.

Located in the south of Tarragona, the municipality of Alcanar is an area known for its clementine production, although late oranges have been gaining ground for years.

"Our production arrives later and this, among other aspects, differentiates us from Valencia and Andalusia. As in other citrus producing areas of Spain, there is a varietal change underway. Growers are switching from the old clemenules to new protected mandarin varieties, like the Murcott or Nadorcott, or to oranges like the Navel Powel and Valencia Midknight."

Royo Fruits exports 90% of its production to European countries like France, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Germany, Poland or the Nordic countries, and to destinations further afield, like Canada. "In Spain, we only supply the Catalan supermarket chain Bon Preu, to which we offer a local orange, with a label identifying it as a 100% Catalan orange. We give added value to the late orange Navel Late, an Alcanar native orange which has been losing popularity in the sector due to its delicate skin, although we believe it offers the best flavour. We sell it under the brand La Reserva de l'Avi (Grandfather's reserve).