Two new sales partners have joined the www.freshfruitportal.com team as we look to increase sponsorship in line with readership growth across geographic regions.

Linda Bloomfield, Rodrigo Magdaleno and Dana Davis

European partner Linda Bloomfield and Mexico/Spain partner Rodrigo Magdaleno will also handle sales for our affiliated news sites, Spanish-language www.portalfruticola.com and www.chinafruitportal.com in Mandarin.

Gustavo Yentzen, whose company Yentzen Media Group owns the website, said the two industry veterans brought years of produce industry experience from their time at U.K.-based Market Intelligence Ltd, along with a professional and proactive ethos.

"We are happy with the profile we have been fortunate to build, and I believe both Rodrigo and Linda will be great ambassadors for the hard work we do to keep the produce supply chain informed on a range of issues across the globe," Yentzen said.

"Fresh Fruit Portal's monthly European readership has grown by more than 40% in the last year, while Portal Fruticola's readership rates in Spain and Mexico have jumped by close to 30% and 20% respectively," Yentzen said.

"Numbers like these warrant an extended approach from the commercial side of the business, and I hope the crossover benefits will spill over across the borders of Europe and Mexico into Asia and key Southern Hemisphere growing regions."

Bloomfield said she was enjoying working with Yentzen Media and was pleased from the response of advertisers and potential clients so far.

"In produce it's always about the quality of your product, and I joined Gustavo because I appreciate the news he brings to the world through these three sites," she said.

"In this role I aim to connect Fresh Fruit Portal and its sister sites even more closely with the industry, and for clients my goal is to work with them to give them the best advertising opportunities possible through banners on our pages and newsletters."

Magdaleno added Portal Fruticola was a must-read for fruit growers in Latin America, making it an ideal platform for companies to reach one of the world's leading fruit-exporting regions.

"I'm very happy to have this new position, and am eager to strengthen Portal Fruticola's place as the top fruit news site in the Spanish-speaking Americas, and Fresh Fruit Portal's place among the world's leading fruit news publications," he said.

"I also think it's important to emphasize the importance of a branding presence for companies - and national or regional associations too - in the Chinese market, where produce import growth rates have been staggering.

"The Chinese want more foreign fruit each day, and the traders are reading China Fruit Portal to find out how to best bring it to them."

Bloomfield can be contacted by ljbloomfield@aol.com and Magdaleno can be reached on rodrigo.magdalenol@gmail.com.

The two new partners will be at this week's Fruit Logistica fair in Berlin, along with Yentzen (gentzen@yc.cl) and Fresh Fruit Portal editor Matthew Ogg (mogg@freshfruitportal.com), and will be open to meeting requests. Joining the team in Germany will be American partner Dana Davis (danadavis@epix.net), who has achieved continued success in the U.S. market.

"Today the three sites Fresh Fruit Portal, Portal Fruticola and China Fruit Portal form the most widely read news platform globally, and I look forward to what we can achieve here in Berlin and throughout 2014," she said.

www.freshfruitportal.com