"It all started two years ago, when we were visited at the Fruit Attraction fair in Madrid by the multinational Rueda Group, which has offices in the United States, Asia, and several Latin American countries for the production, import and export of citrus," said the manager of the Valencian Citrus Protected Geographical Indication, Jose Enrique Sanz.
"On this visit, they expressed their interest in marketing Spanish oranges in Peru and Ecuador in their counter season campaigns. These markets get oranges from the US, but they told us they would appreciate having high quality Spanish citrus," he added.
After several meetings and discussions, the Valencian Citrus PGI organized a meeting in November 2015 with the Rueda Group, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and Water of the Generalitat of Valencia, the Federation of Agricultural Food Cooperatives, and the Citrus Management Committee to determine which varieties were more interesting, as well as the commercial and logistical conditions, and all the factors needed to create an import protocol.
The idea is for Spain to send its oranges to these markets from November to June, however, according to the manager of the PGI, "The late oranges starting January have the best conditions for shipping over long distances, as they have a more consistent skin."
"At the moment, the protocol would only be for oranges, but Peru and Ecuador have also shown a commercial interest for mandarins, as the consumers in these countries could afford them," he added.
"This may have started because of a company interested in commercializing our oranges, but this could be an opportunity to open a trade route in the medium and long term future," Enrique Sanz said.
The Valencian Citrus PGI will continue mediating in the processing to create a protocol for citrus between Peru, Ecuador, and Spain, although, according to the representative, "now, everything is in the hands of the Spanish, Peruvian and Ecuadorian authorities."
