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Fruit Today euromagazine talked to Juan Miguel Floristán, President of AFHORLA, the Spanish Association of fresh-cut producers.

How has the fresh-cut sector in Spain developed over the last five years?

The fresh-cut sector represents 5% of fruit and vegetable consumption which is way below that of other countries such as England and France so this makes us quite optimistic about the future.

Growth in the Spanish market, which up until last year was in double digits, has been slowing down since the summer of 2007 and has been affected in recent months by the current economic crisis: compared to progress in 2007 and according to data collected up until October we can say that the total volume of products sold in Spain has increased y about 3%.

I suppose that the fact that growth has slowed is due to the fact that we had less to start with. Can you answer me this: Will the economic crisis affect the sector?

Although this is still a very young market, it will be difficult to duplicate the growth of recent years in the coming ones but this will depend on the capacity the companies in the sector have to innovate in new product ranges and articles. As far as the crisis is concerned, what I can say is that in recent months, as far as food products are concerned, they have suffered from the effects of families’ attempts to spend less, but no more so than other major consumer goods.

In terms of associates how has AFHORLA changed in recent years?

AFHORLA is a very young association which was founded at the end of 2005 by the major players in the sector: Vega Major, S.A. (Navarra), Verdifresh, S.L. (Valencia), Sogesol, S.A. (Murcia), Kernel Export, S.L. (Murcia), S.A.T. Primaflor (Almeria), Tallo Verde, S.L. (Toledo) and Frutibon, S.L. (Alicante). We would like to have as many manufacturers in the association as possible, regardless of their size. AFHORLA represents around 95% of the total volume currently on sale.

Have more associates joined since its foundation?

In recent months there have been several companies seeking membership but this is always dependent on the mandatory review of their facilities by an independent audit that establishes if these meet the requirements specified in the “Good Practice Guide for the Production and Sale of Fresh-Cut Produce”. Membership for two new companies was approved in our last board meeting with effect from the first trimester of this year and we are confident that during 2009 at least two others will follow suit.

Why has the fresh-cut range in fruit taken so long to get going? What are the reasons behind this?

In recent years there have been many business projects attempting to duplicate the success of the fresh-cut range of salads and vegetables with fruit but the results have not been the same. The use-by-date for fruit is much more critical than for vegetables. In those countries where fresh-cut fruit has been successful, we are talking about use-by dates of around five days but for nation-wide distribution in Spain this would make things very difficult. Nonetheless I have no doubt that sooner or later these products will take hold in the Spanish market and have the same penetration as those of salads and vegetables.

Can you give me figures relating to the development of the fresh-cut range in the Horeca channel?

The catering market accounts for 25% of all sales in Spain. All organised catering is already using these products because of the many advantages they imply: use of top quality raw material, produce that is completely natural and fresh without additives or conservatives and supplied with food safety guarantees and strict traceability. There are other very important advantages for restaurant owners: less space is used up in the kitchen, 100% of the product is usable, preparation is simplified and labour reduced as well as prices being stable throughout the year etc…

Why do you think so many initiatives have failed?

As is the case in almost all fields of business, the failure of many initiatives is due fundamentally to the appearance of operators who have not analysed the necessary investment and the critical business aspects before going into business. Today it is very easy to produce fresh-cut products on an experimental basis but it is more difficult to maintain product and service quality every day of the year.