Spain: Citrosol looks to new markets
Based in Valencia, but with operations on an international level, Citrosol’s hugely positive results have their foundations in the firm’s emphasis on providing effective postharvest solutions that meet clients’ commercial needs, both from an environment point of view and in terms of delivering cost savings.
It is perhaps little wonder then that the company’s products are finding favour with growers not just in Spain, but at a global level, during what must surely be one of the toughest times the fresh produce sector has faced in living memory.
"This is very significant growth and are happy to have been able to have achieved it during such a difficult time for the sector – this has encouraged us to continue on what we believe is the correct path for our business," explains Citrosol’s managing director, Benito Orihuel.
One of the company’s key products from an environmental point of view is the Citrosol Zero Spillage System, which despite being launched commercially only three years ago is already gaining recognition for delivering a new standard of postharvest treatment technology.
With the system, up to 100 per cent of fungicides used in postharvest drenchers and pools can be reused multiple times without the treatment losing any of its potency to eliminate mould and fungus, the causes of decay.
"The treatment suspension maintains its maximum level of efficiency permanently, and can be used again and again without having to be thrown away," explains Orihuel.
Citrosol Zero Spillage System achieves this through a new dosage system that maintains the consistency of the fungicide treatment unaltered from the beginning to the close of every season, while it includes innovations to remove mud, stones and other waste.
Through such systems, Orihuel believes Citrosol is providing a means of helping growers meet increasingly stringent retailer demands for ever lower pesticide residues, as the level of fungicide within Zero Spillage treatments remains consistently low throughout usage.
"The Citrosol Zero Spillage system does not generate residues and matches perfectly with our slogan, 'the best way to handle residues is not to produce them'," he says.
In fact, so successful has the Zero Spillage system been that Orihuel says competitors within the postharvest sector have already begun to launch similar products, although with decidedly less impressive results.
Another product that has also brought environmental benefits for clients has been Citrosol AS, a wax coating that can deliver energy savings and lower greenhouse gas emissions because it does have to be subjected to normal, costly drying processes.
Unlike most conventional waxes, Citrosol AS dries at temperatures of between 25°C and 35°C, instead of energy-consuming temperatures as high as 50°C.
Global expansion
For all its products, Orihuel says Citrosol’s objective is to achieve greater consistency and homogenisation in terms of the results that its treatments deliver by getting to the bottom of the reasons for variations in effectiveness.
Understanding these factors, he continues, has enabled the company to reduce variations in the effectiveness of treatments and the levels of residues in treated fruit.
However, although investment in innovation has been one of the key factors in driving Citrosol’s growth, the company has also benefited from increasing demand, particularly at an international level, for its long-established range of citrus waxes.
Sales of the range are benefiting from word-of-mouth recommendations among citrus exporters who have highlighted the excellent performance of Citrosol waxes during long distance sea voyages, meaning fruit arrives in a good condition at destination markets, explains Julio Marín, Citrosol’s international operations director.
Such recommendations, he says, have enabled Citrosol to increasingly move into new countries, both at a European and worldwide level.
In fact, Marín reveals that demand for its citrus waxes has enabled Citrosol, starting next season, to expand its business into a major Mediterranean citrus producing country where it previously did not have a presence. The move forms part of a strategy to widen the company’s reach beyond Europe, with Citrosol now present in the Middle East, Australia, the countries of the Mediterranean region, South Africa and parts of South America.
New products
Citrosol has further developed its product range this year with the launch of a new mobile system for sterilising packhouses and cold storage chambers.
The Nebulizador X3 combines with ready-to-use disinfectant Glocuat PC to enable producers to safely disinfect storage and packing facilities, while also helping to reduce instances of fruit rot.
According to Orihuel, the system produces a gas that changes on contact to a liquid that acts as a highly effective fungicide and bactericide.
Its ability to act initially as a gas, he explains, means active elements can reach even the most inaccessible parts of a packhouse or cold storage chamber to make sure they are disinfected.
Like the Zero Spillage system, the Nebulizador X3 delivers “very good” practical results at a very competitive price, with an excellent cost-efficiency ratio.
However, although innovations have been an important factor in Citrosol’s growth, Orihuel emphasises that the company’s values and its dedication to applying these in all business dealings and especially in its relationships with clients has been vital.
Citrosol’s growth is due to and because of its values and its work in developing effective postharvest treatments. “We don’t take chances with product quality,” Orihuel says.
Furthermore, the success of the company’s products has been based on hard facts rather than academic speculation. "One thing is the views of opinion formers and scientists, and another is how you apply their conclusions in a real industrial situation,' he adds.
For more information:
Encarna Martí
Citrosol
Tel: +34 608 48 39 96
encarna@citrosol.com