"Our commitment to a single raspberry variety led us to success"

Soloberry, together with another five companies, is part of the club that sells the Adelita, Planasa's raspberry, and is also the one marketing the largest volume out of all the club's members. "We are the company that made the strongest commitment to this raspberry variety from the get-go," explains Juan José Ollero, technical director of the Huelva-based company Soloberry.

"The sale of the Adelita has been a turning point for this company, accelerating its growth. We started testing it with very few plants distributed in 3 different locations, and we saw that the variety had potential. This led us to make a risky bet after this first test and we expanded to about 35 hectares in the next campaign, which fortunately went well. Many producers knocked on our door and we started providing technical, commercial and financial support," he recalls.

"We are now focusing on producing mainly in the winter months with about 350 hectares of Adelita. The company is also betting on the purely remontant Lupita raspberry, also from Planasa, which helps us to have a good supply during the rest of the campaign and is characterised by high productivity, excellent fruit quality and an amazing post-harvest shelf life. "We believe it has a long way to go yet. We have been betting on it for three years and it will probably give us a lot to talk about in the near future," remarks Juan José Ollero.

Soloberry produces Adelita raspberries in Spain, Portugal and Morocco. "Our production is expanding in the three countries and our next step will be to consolidate in the south of Morocco, since we believe it has a unique climate, water and soil that can help us achieve good things," points out Ollero. These two varieties in three locations have allowed the firm to have quality raspberries from September to June, although this year they will also produce in July and August in Spain.

Soloberry was born out of the need of large British retailers (initially Sainsbury's) to stock up on berries during the winter, which are the months when the UK is unable to supply itself. Although five years ago they only supplied the United Kingdom, they now export 55% of the production to the rest of Europe, with some smaller shipments going also to Asia and the United Arab Emirates.

"The volume that the sector is shipping to Asia this year is very small, as Europe is absorbing everything for now, but we believe it will be an important market in the future. This year we will be exporting raspberries to Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong for the first time by air."