Cancel (Castelsarrasin, Tarn-et-Garonne) took over the kiwi activity of Roquette (Aiguillon, Lot-et-Garonne) in the summer of 2021. This sealed the creation of a new group of 200 kiwi producers mainly located in the Garonne Valley and producing about 12,000 tons of kiwis each year, which is 25% of the French production. With imports, the new entity will market a total of about 16,000 tons of kiwis during the 2021-2022 season.
From left to right: Alexandre Cancel (president), Bruno Rouquette (producer relation and packaging manager), and Maxime Gil (general director).
The coming together of two structures with a common DNA
Two family businesses well known for their dynamism, with a long history on two closely-related and complementary territories (Tarn-et-Garonne and Lot-et-Garonne). Both teams have decided to join forces as they have both been passionate about kiwi production for many years with a common sense of innovation. The goal is clear: to offer a complete varietal range to the clients and the producers by bringing them quality technical support for the agronomic success of the existing plantations, as well as for new projects. This new structure will help reach a critical size in order to provide even more services, while saving considerably to gain in competitiveness.
This coming together is a fusion of human skills first and foremost. The Cancel team is gaining strength thanks to the support from the Roquette managers bringing in all their expertise: Bruno Roquette, in charge of the relation with the producers and the management of packaging, and Laurent Rouquette, in charge of sales.
The kiwi offer
These 16,000 tons of kiwis will be marketed by Cancel, mainly with a very large offer (Bio, HEV, Bee Friendly and GlobalGAP labels) of the Hayward variety. But the objective is to position themselves on all markets. By integrating the Summerkiwi (early French green kiwi) and the yellow Dori kiwi, the new structure will be able to offer a complete range, which includes all colors (green, red and yellow), all year round, in order to meet all needs.
300 hectares of new plantations within 5 years
The group will develop new innovative plantation projects for green, red and yellow varieties. In total, no less than 300 hectares are expected to be planted in the next 5 years.
Agroecology, tasty varieties, promoting the origins...there are many avenues for progress, which suggests that the French kiwi has a bright future.
For more information:
Cancel Fruits
1 rue de l’Occitanie, ZI de Barrès 3
82100 Castelsarrasin, France
Phone: +33 (0)5 63 04 82 13
www.cancel-fruits.fr