Agroindustria Aragonesa Sociedad Anónima (Agrinarsa) was founded in 1986 in Fuentes de Ebro, in the Spanish province of Zaragoza.
Its own plantations of plums in Oseda de Ebro, Quinto de Ebro and Esplús take a total of 40 hectares, and it is the only firm in Spain controlling the entire prune production process.
After the harvest, plums are taken straight to the processing plant, where they go to drying ovens for 12 to 16 hours. This takes almost their entire water content, facilitating the fruit's preservation and preventing the action of fruit-deteriorating germs. Once dry, prunes are kept in the appropriate temperature and humidity conditions until they are packed in whichever way the client demands.
The harvest for this type of plums lasts for three weeks, from late August until mid-September.
The firm works with two varieties: Agen and Stanley. "We mostly grow the Agen variety, whose name refers to the French city of Agen, considered the world's capital for plum production," says the firm.
In this year's harvest, the most frequent calibre has been 40/50 (110 tonnes), "a very commercial calibre."
"The de-stoning process is done by hand with the larger plums, which helps ensure it leaves no traces, as it can happen with machine de-stoning. The process is entirely manual and is done individually (one plum at a time), with suitable tools," they explain.
Prunes are destined both for the national wholesale market and for exports, in bulk (5 kg or 12.5 kg) or in 500 gram trays under the brand Santa Inés.
Agrinarsa's plums compete with France (Aquitaine) and the United States (California) in the northern hemisphere, and with Chile and Argentina in the southern hemisphere.
For more information:
AGRINARSA
Pol.Industrial La Corona, Fuentes de Ebro, Zaragoza,SPAIN
Nacional 232, Km 208,5
T: 976469459
agrinarsa@frutaria.com