The volumes announced this year are actually turning out to be lower than expected, but the caliber of the French walnuts is very promising. “We were promised a harvest with large volumes, but in the end, the trees were more loaded on the outside than on the inside. So we have a rather normal harvest. In terms of caliber however, the harvest is quite exceptional this year. Usually, the production is mostly made of calibers 28/30 and 30/32. This year, more than 50% of the walnuts will be bigger than caliber 32. This is truly exceptional for French walnuts, and quite incredible, given the less than favorable weather conditions of this season,” explains Christine Bonnet of Coopenoix.
“We now have paper packaging for our walnuts”
Coopenoix started marketing its walnuts two to three weeks ago. This year, the cooperative expects to harvest approximately 6,000 tons of dry walnuts. Currently in the fourth week of marketing, the activity is in full swing. “Our strength lies in our responsiveness to meet the demands of our clients, especially those who want to get large volumes quickly. We have a lot of producers and a good dynamic team. Everything is organized to deliver to our clients in the best conditions. We also respond to the increasingly varied requests in terms of packaging, conditioning and logistics. We have launched paper packaging, for example, to replace some of our plastic packaging. As for the quality of the walnuts this year, we have already received some very good feedback from our clients.”
“The cracking of our dry walnuts is done on site"
In addition to the dry walnuts in their shell, Coopenoix also sells walnut kernels from the walnuts broken at the cooperative. “This year, we will market 200 tons of kernels. Approximately 3 kg of dry walnuts in their shells are needed to obtain 1 kg of kernels. We will start with the breaking operations in November. Everything is done internally, with our breaking machine and 2 optical sorting machines, in addition to several manual sorting stages. We hope that the effects of the Covid crisis on kernel sales are behind us and that, with the reopening of restaurants, sales will pick up again. More globally, the sales of French walnut kernels are also affected by the presence of many origins on the market, due to the important volumes of imported kernels.”
“We want to highlight the exemplary nature of the French production"
Coopenoix really wants to promote the French origin and highlight the exemplary nature of the French production. “We are very proud of the work of our producers and we are aware of all the efforts made to keep up with the French regulations which are increasingly stringent and rigorous but guarantee an exemplary product to the consumer. Like other fruit and vegetables in France, it is not always easy to find a place on a market that has a lot of imported products which are not subject to the same constraints and controls in production.”
“Our new internet site highlights the work of our producers”
Coopenoix has just launched its new internet site. “It is meant to be more dynamic, complete, with more information on the Grenoble walnuts and the other varieties we offer, as well as their health benefits. We promote the French origin and the work of our producers. For a few weeks, we have also been present on Facebook and Linkedin. Our goal is to provide a lot of information in real time on the products, the work carried out by the producers and within the cooperative. “It is like a small open door to the whole environment of the cooperative.”
For more information:
Christine Bonnet
Coopenoix
75, avenue de la Noix de Grenoble - B.P. 42
38470 Vinay. France
Phone: + 33 (0)4 76 36 95 21
c.bonnet@coopenoix.com
www.coopenoix.com