Japanese trading house Itochu will cultivate Europe's fruit market with its Dole business by investing in a Serbian raspberry processor, seeking opportunities for growth in a region dominated by rival Del Monte Foods.
An Itochu-owned Dole company spent about $12 million to acquire a 49% stake in Belgrade-based Master Fruits, which freezes and packages raspberries and other fruits for sale to retailers, eateries and food producers, primarily in the U.K.
Serbia is a leading global raspberry producer. With Itochu's help, Master Fruits will extend its sales to the rest of Europe, including France and Spain. The Serbian company can process an annual 5,000 tons of raspberries at its own factories. Sales volume in 2016 came to only around 3,000 tons, but the processor will aim for 20,000 tons in 2020 with help from partner factories.
Tokyo-based Itochu acquired Dole's Asian fresh produce and global packaged foods businesses for $1.68 billion in 2013. Itochu's Dole business logs annual sales of about 260 billion yen ($2.38 billion), split evenly between fresh fruits like bananas and processed products such as juices and canned pineapples. The U.S. accounts for more than 80% of these packaged-food sales, followed by Asia with 10%. European sales make up only 5% of the total.
