Bakersfield, Calif. – Sun World Innovations, the fruit breeding, technology and licensing business unit within Sun World International, LLC, has licensed six additional grape and stonefruit companies in South Africa, Peru, Morocco and Tunisia to grow and market its lines of proprietary fruit, Sun World Innovations Vice President of Licensing Garth Swinburn said.
DEFRUSA, based in Piura, Peru, is strategically positioned to produce and export grapes starting in October as a complement to production from its parent company Gesex in Chile, December to April in Copiapo and the central area of Chile.
Safco Peru, centered in Ica, has quickly grown to become one of Peru’s top five grape exporters. Its December grape supplies further extend parent company Rio King’s Chilean grape season.
Safco Peru and DEFRUSA join five other Peruvian export companies, including Agricola Don Ricardo, Camposol, Ecosac, Agricola Chapi and Enzafruit as licensed Sun World grape marketers.
Sadira is a vertically-integrated nursery-producer-exporter based in Tunis, Tunisia with interests in table grape, stonefruit and citrus farming and marketing. As one of Tunisia’s leading fruit companies, it was founded 31 years ago and is represented by Founder and CEO Sahbi Mahjoub. Sadira is Sun World’s first Tunisian licensee.
Delecta Fruit of Paarl South Africa is a longstanding Western-Cape export company owned by the Graaf family and other leading fruit growers. One of South Africa’s top stonefruit companies, it was founded in 1997 and is represented by Managing Director Stefan Du Plessis. Delecta joins three South African exporters including Stems, In2Stone and Green Marketing as licensed Sun World stonefruit marketers.
Les Vergers du Soleil and Delassus are Sun World’s first Moroccan grape grower/marketers. Both companies currently grow grapes for export in the south of the country to capture early markets before continental Europe. Les Verges Du Soleil based in Marrakech is one of Morocco’s largest producers and exporters of seedless and seeded table grapes. Delassus, with its head office in Casablanca, operates two farms in Marrakech and Taroudant and exports 1200 tons of grapes per year to markets in Europe.
“We are pleased to appoint these fine companies, many of which we have had longstanding relationships, to help bolster our presence in the global fruit trade,” Swinburn said. “We’re confident that emerging production regions such as Peru, Morocco and Tunisia, along with our more established regions, will provide more quality-oriented producers with access to our proprietary fruit varieties and further increase the visibility of our varietal brands,” he added.
Our new appointments join more than 60 other licensees around the world who market Sun World fruit varieties.
Key Sun World varieties are marketed under various grape varietal brands such as SABLE SEEDLESS®, AUTUMNCRISP® and SCARLOTTA SEEDLESS® as well as stonefruit brands including HONEYCOT® apricots and BLACK DIAMOND® plums.
Sun World Innovations is the agriculture technology and licensing arm of Sun World International LLC, a California-based agribusiness that produces and markets seedless grapes. It was created in December 2015 to shepherd and drive growth of its fruit breeding/variety development, licensing, international investments and agriculture technology pursuits. The company is based in Coachella, California with operations in central California as well as licensing offices in Europe, South America, Australia, South Africa and Israel. More information about Sun World is available at www.sunworldinnovations.com.
Source: Sun World Innovations
