"Now Saudi Arabia is also asking us to be a major supplier"

A very good season is drawing to a close for the Italian brand Limoré, given the commercial results achieved by the consortium in about six months of sales in both European and non-European countries.

"After the recent shipments to the Japanese market and the doubling of demand in a few weeks, exports to Saudi Arabia have also increased significantly in the last 15 days, by about 70 per cent. The goods are shipped by air from Milan-Malpensa airport to Riyadh-Re Khalid International Airport. The main cities we operate in are Ryad and Jeddah, where our lemons are distributed in various supermarkets and high-end restaurants," says Pietro Buongiorno, president of the Rocca Imperiale Consortium of Associated Lemon Producers.

"The internationalization process we are undergoing is the result of the investments we have made in the communications sector. We have told operators and consumers the true story of our lemons, made up of simple people who want to grow and promote our territory, that is Rocca Imperiale, to the world. Arabs and other foreign buyers appreciate our product for its organoleptic characteristics, with a distinctive aroma, an edible peel, and above all, the total absence of seeds."

In the last three years, the Limoré brand has managed to penetrate important markets outside Europe, such as Dubai, Melbourne, Ryad, Jeddah and several cities in Japan, in addition to regular deliveries to France, Germany, Switzerland, England, Belgium, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Romania and Luxembourg. The market is also recovering strongly in Italy," says the president, "and we are obviously talking about a premium product. However, we are aware that in the coming seasons we will have to face an increasingly crowded competitive environment in which the only way to stand out will be to differentiate ourselves by investing in marketing, new eco-sustainable packaging, residue-free products and extending the variety calendar in order to be present on the shelves for as long as possible."

With only a few days left until the end of the campaign, attention is already turning to the next one. "The many requests we are receiving from various operators around the world are prompting us to significantly expand our membership base for the 2024/25 lemon season in order to guarantee larger volumes and better plan sales activities. We are approaching the final phase of the 2023/24 lemon season. We expect to finish the product in the first ten days of June. This season we have been able to extend the delivery period thanks to favorable weather conditions. Last year, on the other hand, the incessant rain and humidity forced us to close much earlier because the shelf life of the product was drastically reduced."