Portuguese production is appreciated

It started as a selling point in the Rego market, in Portugal, but with time it grew and today is an international company, selling 20,000 tons of fruit per year to more than 23 countries in Europe, Africa and Latin America, according to local sources.

Luis Vicente S.A has headquarters in Angola, Madrid and the Netherlands, having reached 47.5 million Euro in business.

Manuel Évora, executive administrator for Luis Vicente S.A

In operations for 50 years now, the company created by Luís Vicente in Torres Vedras, grew in a sustained and constant way, trading on innovation, quality and food security for fruits and vegetables they produce and sell.

"Our fruit is selected one by one and the client has a warranty that in production, calibration, selection and selling we follow every quality and security criteria", said Manuel Évora, executive administrator for Luis Vicente SA, adding that the company is certified and audited at "every moment".

More than the fruit produced in the Coin House, in Ferreira do Alentejo, the company sells the production of 106 associated farmers, corresponding to a total cultivation area of 550 hectares. Rocha pear represents more than half of the production, that reached 20,000 tons in 2011, followed by peach, nectarine, apple, plum, khaki and quince.

More than half of the fruit is for export markets, due to the "easiness to place it in the external market" and because there's a "bigger turnover" than in the internal market, said Manuel Évora.

The fruit harvested in August is stored in a chamber, a controlled environment, set in the exporting centres of Lourinhã and Torres Vedras, to keep their original qualities and only displaced if to be sold.

Luis Vicente SA also imports fruits, mainly from South Africa and Latin America, trough the "Plump" brand, justifying it by the consumers preferences for such products. "We are, in Europe, the biggest consumers of mango and papaya", said the administrator.