The North American brand Driscoll's has been linked to Huelva's agriculture for about 20 years through the firm Alconeras, which owned the production rights for Spain and Morocco of the varieties managed by Driscoll's, one of the world's leading names in the berry industry for over a century. In early 2011, Driscoll's and Alconeras merged, and ever since, Driscoll's Spain offices have been set up in the buildings of the old cooperative from Moguer.
According to Raul Martinez, Driscoll's business strategy consists in "supplying berries to its clients during all 52 weeks of the year" and "we ensure this continuity by producing in different countries," psoints out Martinez.
The marketing of its berries focuses on a number of countries that Driscoll's Spain considers very important, such as the Nordic countries, the Benelux, Germany, the UK, France and those found in the Middle East. "These countries have a number of factors that fit in our business strategy, including their higher purchasing power, that they are established berry consumers and because they already recognise our brand," explains Martínez.
Perhaps because of this, almost all shipments made from Moguer are intended for export. "In Spain, the culture of year-round berry consumption has yet to develop. Anyway, our berries are present in the domestic market throughout the year in Costco supermarkets, in Seville," explains the brand manager.
Currently, more than 40 growers in the province collaborate with Driscoll's Spain producing strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and blueberries. The total production acreage exceeds 300 hectares. Including the nursery staff, the company has about 40 employees, although during the campaign it gives work to up to 4,000 pickers.
Driscoll's Spain markets three proprietary strawberry varieties: Lusa, Magdalena and Marquies.
As for raspberries, the varieties used are Maravilla, Alicia and Sevillana. With the production obtained "we are able to ship the fruit for ten months of the year," stresses Martínez.
The blackberry varieties are King George and Victoria, which stand out for their flavour and high yield, while for blueberries, the U.S. company tries to meet the needs of its customers with four varieties: Stela Blue, Cielo, Violeta and Rockinoee.
Driscoll's Spain's Head of Operations acknowledges that although it is difficult to establish the market share of the berries shipped from its facilities, mainly due to the lack of reliable production surveys in the province, the company's turnover exceeds 30 million Euro.
Driscoll's goal for the coming years is to increase its production and revenue. This growth, according to Raúl Martínez, should be based in "a good genetic programme for the four berry varieties and in collaborating with growers who are focused on producing quality products."
Raúl Martínez believes that "it is necessary for the companies in the sector to analyse their strengths and weaknesses in order to act accordingly. A year ago, we decided to review our strategies in the strawberry sector. Firstly, we decided that we had to focus on the consumer, producing varieties with the flavours they like. Similarly, in an industry where supply and demand play a huge role, a tight control of costs throughout the entire supply chain is essential."
To redress this situation, after several campaigns with unsatisfactory results for strawberry growers, "we started focusing on producing higher quality strawberries, as we have come to a point where consumers don't want lower quality strawberries, no matter how cheap they are. Secondly, we considered it necessary to adjust the production plans in accordance with their lines of business and not vice versa, of which we can provide many examples nowadays."
