New Zealand fruit company Turners & Growers has opened a new office in Washington State for its U.S. subsidiary EnzaFruit Products Inc (EPI), while also enlisting a new sales agent.

The new T&G Global - Washington office is in Wenatchee is close to the major growing regions and T&G’s grower and distribution partners.

In a release, the German-owned company said the move was part of a plan to expand its U.S. apple program significantly over the next six years, with EPI set to become the master licence manager for North American distribution on Sept. 1.

The license includes the exclusive management of the export programme for T&G’s U.S. origin fruit through its North American export market team office based in California.

The Oppenheimer Group (Oppy) will continue to handle the majority of the Enza North American programme and significantly grow its sales into the future, leveraging its extensive market experience and long-term relationship with T&G.

The company said the volume reflected the strong contribution Oppy had made to the establishment of the Enza program for over a half a century and the value created through its varieties and brands.

T&G Global has also appointed Columbia Marketing International (CMI), as its third domestic sales agent starting with the 2016 season, which it said was a  natural alignment within the program as McDougall and Sons, one of three packers of Enza fruit and a major grower of Enza varieties, is an owner of CMI.

The efforts of CMI will complement those of established distributors Oppy and Rainier Fruit Company (RFC); together the three agents will each sell all of the T&G apple varieties.

"It’s a natural fit for CMI to join our other two very strong sales agents as CMI’s owners have already been growing and packing all three of the T&G varieties for many years," says T&G Global's executive general manager for pipfruit, Darren Drury.

Mr Drury said these initiatives underpinned a plan to grow the Enza program from the current two million plus cartons per annum to more than triple that number by 2022.

"Pipfruit remains a key focus and a major part of T&G’s business globally, supported by our outstanding varieties and brands such as Jazz™, Envy™ and Pacific Rose™, an expanding grower base and a global export network," he said.

"Our North American strategy has been built on the continuing growth and momentum of the apple industry in the USA, with consumers falling in love with the apple and pear category again."

Drury said this was based on the emergence of new and full flavor managed varieties that had developed strong followings with U.S. and international consumers.

"The Enza programme has been built on selecting growers who share the values and vision of T&G and the exceptional varieties that make up the program including Jazz and Envy, and also Pacific Rose," he said.

A key plank in T&G’s success and future growth plans is built around its strong relationships with growers, distributors, domestic retailers and export customers.

“We place a major emphasis on our relationships across the supply chain and we are delighted to have strong distribution partners such as Oppy, RFC and CMI.”

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