Dole Fresh Fruit Europe and Matanuska Africa Ltd partner up

Dole Fresh Fruit Europe is announcing it has reached a long term commercial partnership with Matanuska Africa Limited by which Dole will assume all sales operations and become the sole distributor of Matanuska's Mozambique banana production in the Middle East, Europe and Africa. In addition Dole will assist Matanuska logistically and supply technical support in its farming operations.

Matanuska, owned by Rift Valley Corporation, is based in Northern Mozambique, 100 km from the deep-sea port of Nacala and has under cultivation 1,400 hectares of bananas. The current site is fully irrigated by a dedicated 55M metric cube dam, operating six pack houses and providing employment in the adjacent communities to 2,600 people. "The tie in with Dole Fresh Fruit Europe will allow Matanuska to develop a better product as well as provide Matanuska access to industry expertise to increase its banana production to 7-8 million boxes by the end of 2016," says Sevki Isin, Group Development Director, Rift Valley Corporation.

Ken Docherty, currently in charge of the sales office of Matanuska, will be heading a new Dole office in Dubai. This office will also market the full range of Dole South Hemisphere products in the region.

"We are delighted with the partnership with Matanuska which will deliver better and closer service to our Middle East customer base. Our expertise and know-how all along the supply chain will create a strong value proposition," says Johan Linden, president of Dole Fresh Fruit Europe.

For more information:
Xavier Roussel
Dole Fresh Fruit Europe
Tel +49.(0).40.32.90.60
Email: xavier.roussel@dole.com