With greater space in the Brazilian retail orange juice stimulates new bets

Descending from the beginning of the last decade in the international market, the demand for orange juice, without added integral water or sugar, continues to show signs that it has potential to grow in Brazil. Despite still tackle on entrenched "culture of wringer" and higher prices than competing beverages strong barriers in the country, the orange juice ready to drink, under the call of practicality, slowly gaining consumers in large cities and in the interior of Sao Paulo State, which is home to the largest park in citrus fruit on the planet.
This potential, the Agricultural Cooperative of Solidarity to Itápolis (Coagrosol), one of the municipalities that lead production paulista of oranges, is the latest example of a still small-sized group that began exploring this market or went on to direct a larger part of the offer of integral to domestic retail juice. Last week, launched the Direct brand of Fruit at a supermarket in the capital of Rio Grande do Sul network Zaffari of São Paulo and expects sales in the country exceed exports for the first time since its founding in 2000.
Reginaldo Vanja, Vice-President of Coagrosol, recalls that when his father and others created the cooperative producers 34, the focus was exclusively the external market. In recent years, under the law which obliges municipalities to acquire part of their food purchases of family farmers, the internal market began to gain importance. And now, with retail sales, the domestic front won a more strategic status.
Currently, the Coagrosol produces 40 thousand liters of orange juice per month and its turnover is estimated at r $ 21 million in 2014-about 50% of the total from sales in the country already, anchored in the prefectures. Second, the 350 Vanja cooperative members that today are part of the group, which reap 600 thousand boxes of 40.8 kilos of Orange in an area of activity which involves a dozen municipalities, already have policies to expand the supply of fruits to produce 1 million gallons of orange juice per month if there is demand.
Since the beginning of the activities, the fruits harvested by the citrus of the group are processed in third-party equipment, including major industries-Cutrale, Citrosuco and Louis Dreyfus Commodities, which dominate the Brazilian and global shipments of orange juice. "We have to bet on the domestic market, which is still little explored. It's not easy, because the cooperative is small, but we have a quality product and we can grow, "said Vanja.
Biasioli yobu, who in the past has been Executive of major industries and is now a partner at Crop consulting, remember that among the difficulties faced by small players in this area are the tax burden, the high costs of packaging and transport and the own beverage flavor produced instability, which can vary depending on the time of year. "The problem of quality is inevitable. To bypass it, you have to invest in storage. The problem is that, often, that cost is transferred to the final product, which is expensive to the consumer ".
As the consultant, there is capacity available in juice factories installed in São Paulo and other States to promote other initiatives such as the Coagrosol. In its calculations, the extractors can crush already installed over 400 million boxes of oranges per year. The CitrusBR, an organization that represents Cutrale, Citrosuco and Dreyfus, estimates that in total (including nonaffiliated), less than 260 million boxes will be processed on this vintage 2014/3:0 pm Sao Paulo and southern Minas Gerais, which account for more than 90% of the national production of juice. The volume initially planned was bigger, but there have been losses because of drought.
It is estimated that the processing for the production of integral juice ready to drink intended for the domestic market will absorb just 2 million boxes, sufficient for the manufacture of about 16 million liters. Sources of the segment design that, with exemption, adequate packaging and distribution structure, better sales in the country will in the future represent 20% of total production. And there are other players, beyond Coagrosol, interested in what this growth is confirmed.
Headquartered in Halifax, in the region of Campinas, the Natural One, is one of them. Led by businessman Ricardo Ermírio de Moraes Ermírio son Pereira de Moraes and former Citrosuco, the company is more diversified, with a wider range of drinks and juices of other flavors, but also has made a strong push to raise sales of orange juice 100% domestic retail. One of the differences of branded product is the packaging. Unlike fruit, Coagrosol Direct, or even traditional brands like Farm, using cartons, or Xandô, sold in plastic bottles, a Natural One bet on the pet aseptic, in different sizes-there is a version of 4 liters, for example.
And, according to the consultant Paulo Biasioli, who is also Executive Director of the Association of Citrus in Limeira (Alicitros), there are initiatives that make body in Bebedouro, also in São Paulo State, and in the municipalities of Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul and Bahia, among others.