One of Chile's leading fruit exporters, Copefrut, has become a member of Italian fruit consortium Origine Group.

The Chilean company, set up in 1955 as Cooperativa Agrícola y Frutícola de Curicó and renamed Copefrut S.A. in 1992, exports fruit to more than 50 countries and processes 150,000 metric tons (MT) of produce, including 15,000MT of kiwifruit, 20,000MT of cherries, 2,000MT of pears and 90,000MT of apples.

Copefrut joins another Chilean company, David Del Curto, which has been a member of Origine Group for more than one year. 

Origine Group was founded August 2015 from an alliance between several leading grower-marketers in the Italian and European markets.

"Origine Group is an important strategic choice for us, aimed at increasing the value of our top quality kiwis with an internationally recognized brand," says Marco Echenique, Copefrut sales manager.

"This is possible only by getting together with other companies and concentrating the resources necessary for successful international marketing. The value of the companies that participate in Origine Group gives us confidence that we made the right choice."

Alessandro Zampagna, managing director of Origine Group, said the new Chilean member would help build a 12-month supply of kiwifruit to ship to global markets.

“Copefrut is a very important company, one of the biggest Chilean exporters, together with David Del Curto. Now our production base is more substantial and enables us to carry out more effective commercial strategies on the overseas markets," he said.

"Furthermore, the considerable membership of Origine Group, recently reinforced by the entrance of OP Minguzzi, is an opportunity for commercial projects on other products besides kiwis and pears”.