SanLucar to enter "very attractive" Turkish market - FreshFruitPortal.com

SanLucar to enter "very attractive" Turkish market

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SanLucar to enter "very attractive" Turkish market

Having worked with a supplyingĀ partner in Turkey since the turn of the millennium, Spanish multinational SanLucar now plans to build the business up a notch and start marketing fruit in the Mediterranean country.

Turkey's population is estimated at under 76 million, of which 14 million live in the capital Istanbul.

Turkey's population is estimated at just under 76 million, of which more than 14 million live in the capital Istanbul.

The organization's international division CEO Michael Brinkmann said while Turkey had only been used as a production country previously, long-term market prospects were 'promising'Ā for SanLucar-branded fruit and 'a lot of investment was going in'.

"We plan to sell a range of different products,"Ā Brinkmann told www.freshfruitportal.com.

"Cherries will be one of the first products because it's the one we've already been producing there with our partner for at least 15 years, and then a range of different products as well.

"We're entering into talks now with potential clients to see which ones would have the highest priority."

Blueberries and apricots have already been planted with the partner, based in the southernĀ Antalya region, and table grape vines will go in the groundĀ in the next six months.

Brinkmann explained the relationship with the partner was like a 'joint venture' in that the partner owned the land and SunLucar provided enterprise and the varieties for planting, but decisions on where and how to market were made together.

In terms of market prospects,Ā Brinkmann was confident of a strong future, citing the large population as one reason.

"We always look mid to long-term, and mid to long-term for me itā€™s a very attractive market," he said.

"Size is one thing ā€“ it has almost 80 million people living there. Itā€™s a growing economy and it will get stronger over the next 10, 15, 20 years, and the number of people looking for quality products will increase."

"It's already there, but it will grow even further in the future. I would say it's a very promising market in general."

Tunisia to be one of 'top three' suppliers

Across the Mediterranean, the future is also looking promising in the North African country of Tunisia, whereĀ SanLucar recently acquired a second farm.

The countryĀ will produce large berry volumes in the coming years, andĀ Brinkmann said it wouldĀ undoubtedly be one of the organization's top three production countries.

SanLucarĀ began raspberry production in Tunisia a couple of years ago, and in April received a ā‚¬4 million (US$4.3 million) loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to boost the project.

Brinkmann said the second raspberry season had just ended, and work was now underway to 'scale up' for next year.

"We're now planting for next season, and we're planting a good mix of spring-autumn varieties and half winter varieties, so weā€™ll have more or less stable production from October onwards to June," Brinkmann told www.freshfruitportal.com.

"So we will have eight or nine months of production and it looks pretty good. We're happy with it. We've got the right varieties and we have even more experience."

Rather than increasing the raspberry marketing window, the main intention behind the project isĀ to enhance raspberry quality during the winter months.

"From January to April, there arenā€™t many great varieties available in the market produced in those timeframes.

"Weā€™re really proud to put the SanLucar sticker on fruit and say 'this is a high quality product', but we couldn't always get those from our existing producing partners. So that was one of the reasons we went to Tunisia - the winter is milder and we could have a much higher quality in those months.

"What we will be offering from January to April will beĀ by far the best in the market. In June of course you have a lot of production in Spain and other places, so there are a lot of high quality raspberries then."

SanLucar is also doing a small test of blueberries in Tunisia, although Brinkmann said it was still early days and the trial would have to wait until at least next year to be assessed.

Another crop that has already shown promising signs, however, is strawberries.

"We have several test hectares of strawberry that worked quite nicely on that existing farm, and weā€™ve just acquired another farm in Tunisia in the last months where we will do another test," Brinkmann said.

"We think climate-wise it might be even better suited for blueberries and strawberries. So weā€™re going to keep running the test over there."

In total SanLucar now has around 100 hectares of 'high investment and high-density' berry and tomato production in Tunisia, almost exclusively grown in greenhouses, and a further 300 hectares in development which should 'come online' in a couple of years.

There is also a small amount of citrus production, and table grape vines will be planted in January.

"For us Tunisia will be one of our top three production countries for sure," Brinkmann said.

"We have big production centers obviously in Spain and Italy, and weā€™ve also just purchased a farm in South Africa and Ecuador, but Tunisia will beĀ one of the top three. Thereā€™s a lot more to come."

South Africa and Ecuador

SanLucar's recently acquired farm in South Africa is based in the Western Cape and focused on citrus and stonefruit.

While there are only around 50 hectares of citrus trees currently in production, the coming years will see significant increases as a total of 500 hectares have been planted.

"We planted a lot of citrus, but takes four or five years to reach production,"Ā Brinkmann said.

"So next year there will be a little bit more than this year, but the year after that we should double production from South Africa in the July-August timeframe. Every year we will scale up citrus."

He added the recently acquired farm in Ecuador was in a 'very special micro-climate' which may allow production of a range of exotic fruits.

"We are doing a test on almost 20 different types of fruit. There's avocado, mango, baby bananas, figs, grapes, blueberries - a lot of different stuff.

"Bananaā€™s a key anchor - we have a banana farm over there - and we've bought several other farms in a specific region for all types of different foods. We've planted already around 30 hectares now, but we will do a lot more in the future."

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