When Britannia Imp. & Exp. Limited, first started up, they only imported Brazilian produce (mainly Grapes and Mangoes) into Europe and the UK, but more recently the company has diversified to sourcing fruit from both Venezuela and Colombia.
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CEO Llany Oliveira, originally from Petrolina in Brazil, has been in the fresh produce industry for most of her working life and spent years working in Spain and the Netherlands before moving to the UK.
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"We set up Britannia in 2014, initially concentrating on importing produce from Brazil, mainly grapes and mangoes. We import around 100 containers of grapes a year. We are specialised in BSG Vitoria from Brazil, being the first importer to introduce the variety to the UK market, and four years ago started to import limes under the R&M brand, which is a premium brand that consistently sells well above the average rate. Our supplier really understands the value of quality, and we have been able to open other markets for limes due to this. We now import 2-3 containers per week during the season. These products are supplied to retailers, food service, and packers."
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Maya Produce UK – a brand-new sister company dedicated to the wholesale market in Europe. This year Britannia Imp. & Exp. Limited started to import mangoes from Venezuela and papaya from Colombia, which arrive via air freight and are destined for the wholesale markets, and a sister company, Maya Produce, has been set up to handle these imports. The long-term plan is to diversify the portfolio with new produce and other origins. Fabio Alves, Sales Manager, looks after this side of the business.
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"We set up a packing facility in Venezuela and got our growers certified to supply Europe and the UK. In recent years, things have been difficult in the country, and exports are low. We have a very good mango grower, and the venture has been a success. We started planning in November, and the first harvest was in February and will run through to mid-June, which is a long season for mangoes. The quality of the Venezuelan mangoes is superb, certainly appealing to the European market. The market this year for mangoes has been very good, we have air freighted 20-30 pallets each week. We have the Haden variety, which is not very common in Europe. The pallets come into Spain and are distributed throughout Europe and the UK. So far, it has been working very well. We are looking at other products from Venezuela, such as Habanero peppers, in the future."
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Llany said the move to supply wholesalers was a big step. "I was used to dealing in containers, and now we talk about pallets, it is a whole new world for us, but it is all going well. Our grapes and limes keep the company strong and allow us to invest in new products."
For more information:
LLany Oliveira
Britannia Produce
Phone: +44 7889 540 646
Email: [email protected]
Fabio Alves
Maya Produce UK
Phone: +44 7366 563 749
Email: [email protected]
