Joining forces to expand the supply of berries for the European market: As part of a joint venture, Munich-based portfolio manager BayWa Global Produce GmbH and Spanish fruit specialist Nufri S. A. T. intensify their long-standing partnership in growing and trading fresh fruit. In Huelva, Spain, the newly founded company will grow premium new blueberry varieties from BayWa Global Produce Group’s VentureFruit® subsidiary and associated breeding programmes. “In partnering with Nufri, we are taking the next big step towards verticalization and growth for our berry business” says Benedikt Mangold, CEO of BayWa Global Produce.
With worldwide activities, BayWa Global Produce is one of the leading suppliers of high-quality fresh produce in the core categories apples, berries, and exotic fruits. Nufri has an important presence in the main central markets of the Iberian Peninsula and is one of the leading companies in Spain producing and distributing fresh fruits, especially apples, stone fruit and citrus. Subject to approval by the European Commission, with the newly founded joint venture BayWa Global Produce will expand its activities in the key-segment blueberries to further strengthen its position in the international fruit business. The verticalization in Spain aims to secure direct access to premium blueberries to establish these volumes in the most promising European markets.
VentureFruit®, the IP management and commercialisation business of BayWa Global Produce’s subsidiary T&G Global, is strategically investing in the development of premium raspberry, blackberry and blueberry varieties which deliver consistently large, tasty berries with a longer shelf life, increased productivity, and greater resistance to pathogens. “Access to new premium genetics is key for growers today and this partnership will boost our ability to produce the best berries that consumers want” says Ignasi Argilés Figuerola, Managing Director of Nufri.
With blueberry varieties from VentureFruit’s® joint venture breeding programme with Plant & Food Research ready for testing in Europe, the newly founded company has signed on as one of the testing parties. Building on Nufri’s growing expertise, the joint venture has plans to expand on its current farm in Huelva in the next three to five years with a focus on servicing the European market.
The new company is a 50:50 joint venture based in Spain. As a long-standing partner of BayWa Global Produce, Nufri is the only licensee in Spain to grow the premium apple brand Envy™ managed by T&G Global. The Spanish fruit specialist Nufri is also one of the first commercial growers of the climate-tolerant Tutti™ apple from the Hot Climate Partnership, a collaboration between the Spanish Institute of Agricultural Research and Technology (IRTA), New Zealand’s Plant & Food Research, the Catalan fruit growers’ association Fruit Futur and VentureFruit®.
For more information:
BayWa Global Produce GmbH
Tel.: +49 89 9222-0
Email: [email protected]
