[Press Release] Origine Group Sees 80% Increase in Italian Kiwifruit Sales

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“A satisfactory and successful edition of Fruit Logistica” was the positive assessment of Alessandro Zampagna, managing director of Origine Group, a consortium of nine major Italian and Chilean companies.

“The absence of some Chinese visitors and a few cancellations had no visible influence,” continued Zampagna, “there were many visitors and all of our meetings were confirmed.” According to him, interest in the activities of Origine Group, which promotes its members’ fruits to important overseas markets, continues to grow.

“Despite the smaller crop of Italian kiwis, our sales are going very well,” Zampagna went on to say, “From October to December 31 we shipped 80% more kiwis compared to the previous season, a trend that was confirmed in January. We have shipped more than 1,800 tons of Italian kiwis in this first half of the season, and we hope to go on until the end of March with these numbers.”

Particular success has been witnessed in the Americas, with Mexico opening to Italian kiwis this year and so far giving good results, as well as the Far East. In the latter region, however, the recent spread of the coronavirus has changed the situation somewhat.

“The coronavirus has certainly had a terrible impact on the Chinese market, which is practically stuck, while in the other Asian markets we have had no negative impact whatsoever. Fortunately, we have a limited stock in China and the containers afloat can be redirected if necessary. Nonetheless, we hope that it will be not necessary and that the situation in China will soon come back to normal.”

In Asian markets, Origine Group is continuing to expand the presence of its high-quality kiwi brand Sweeki, which this year will be present in mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Korea.

About Origine Group

The Origine Group consortium was founded in 2015 by several companies, international market leaders in the production and trading of fresh fruit and vegetables. The consortium represents companies already firmly established on the domestic and international markets, with a total turnover of over 1.2 billion dollars, which have pooled their resources to provide top-quality products and work together on innovation and new varieties for new emerging markets. Origine Group’s members include the Italian groups Apofruit, Frutta C2, Gran Frutta Zani, Kiwi Uno, Minguzzi, Salvi-Unacoa and Spreafico and the Chilean groups David Del Curto and Copefrut. Readers can learn more about Origine Group and the Sweeki kiwi brand at their websites.

Images: Origine Group