São Paulo – A sweet, very sweet fruit, with truly white flesh, delicate flavour and fewer seeds than sweetsop, a fruit in the same family. That is the atemoya. Considered exotic, the product originated in the United States and is also produced in Brazil, as well as being exported.
Atemóia Bona, the company that produces 400 tonnes of fruit each year, exports 150 tonnes of the product to Canada and Portugal. Seven years ago, sales started through a trading company and expectations for 2011 are for growth.
"This year we should probably have greater production of fruit, 90% for export," said François Bonaventure, the company export manager. "Due to this production we expect to increase exports by 50%," he revealed.
Almost unknown in Brazil, atemoya is a hybrid of two fruits, the sweetsop and the cherimoya. Countries like Chile, Spain, Peru, Venezuela, the United States and South Africa, for example, are important producers of the fruit.
Atemoya production by Bona is fully organic and has Ecocert certification, granted by the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply.
The fruit is grown at a farm in the state of Minas Gerais, in the city of Paraisópolis, and, in the domestic market, is sold at the São Paulo General Trading Post and Warehouse Company (Ceagesp), a site that supplies the whole state of São Paulo with fruit, vegetables, flowers and meats, among other products. The company also has a second farm in Campo dos Jordão (SP), where they produce raspberries, kiwi and blueberry, fruit not yet exported by Bona.
For atemoyas to arrive fresh in import markets, it is exported by air twice a month, on Wednesdays and Sundays. "From harvest to the hands of consumers, it takes ten days, but we recommend seven," said Bonaventure.
On the domestic market, a box with 14 atemoyas may cost between 15 and 21 reals (US$ 8.90 to US$ 12.40), depending on the crop period. On the foreign market, production is sold for the price of 23 reals (US$ 13.60) per box.
For production of atemoyas, Bona has seven full-time employees, a figure that rises to 17 at harvest time. The company’s annual revenues are 600,000 reals (US$ 355,000), of which 50% come from exports.
Contact
Atemóia Bona
Telephone: (+55 11) 7733-0982
E-mail: fbbona@yahoo.com.br
Site: www.atemoia.com.br
*Translated by Mark Ament
