The De Prado group strengthened its leadership with the purchase of the Elaia and Tangerina companies from the Atitlan group, which allows it to have almost 30,000 hectares of mill olive, table olive, and almond trees, a total turnover of more than 250 million euro and more than 700 permanent workers.
De Prado manages 144 farms distributed in Spain, Portugal, Chile, and the United States, as well as an industrial infrastructure that includes six mills, a table olive enamel plant, and two almond processing plants. "We are a family business with the vocation to continue growing," stressed Jose Luis de Prado, the company's president.
This is demonstrated by the next step that the entity plans to take, venturing into the production of avocado and pistachio. "We are partnering with the Israeli company Granot Group, which markets 40,000 tons of avocado in Europe and has plantations in Chile and Kenya. Our goal is to have a total of 1,000 hectares devoted to this crop in Spain and Portugal. We must choose the area right because this fruit is very conditioned by the climate and water," stated Jose Luis. "In parallel, we think we might start an important pistachio planting project. We'll do this by ourselves, as we can count on the experience our technical team has growing almond trees."
Currently, the price of farms has increased because numerous investment funds have entered the agricultural sector increasing purchasing pressure, stated Jose Luis de Prado. "It's logical that the funds are very interested in this sector because the agro-business can be very profitable. However, it can also be a ruinous business if they chose the wrong farm and have inefficient management."
Source: sevilla.abc.es
