Interview with Iberfruta

E.E. & Brian Smith have been working with Iberfruta since they started producing semi-finished fruit and vegetable products in 1991. They have factories in Spain and Morocco and produce Aseptic and Frozen fruit and vegetable purees, slices, dices, cuts, and pulps to suit your needs.

Question – What do you think makes Iberfruta different from other semi-finished fruit and vegetable suppliers?

Iberfruta operate 7 days per week for 24 hours each day which gives us capacity to reply quickly to any enquiry.

We are a flexible supplier and try to help with any enquiry if we can.

We are always investing and improving our factories to help achieve our long-term vision.

Question – What markets do you supply with your fruit and vegetable products?

Iberfruta supplies to countries all over the world. We export more than 80% of our total turnover output.

Question – What initiatives have Iberfruta implemented to help sustainability within the business?

Iberfruta have been working hard on sustainability as a business below are some of the things we have implemented in the last 3 years –

–  We have calculated our carbon footprint and take measures to reduce it.

–  We have offset our emissions by planting trees in the Helios forest.

–  We have reduced our water consumption.

– We re-use the steel drums which we pack product into.

–  We care about the welfare of the workers. We provide a medical service within the company. We also have an agreement with a local nursery in Azagra for the children of people who work for us.

We have a sustainability plan for the next 10 years and review this plan regularly.

Question – Why do you choose to work with suppliers/partners on a long-term basis?

Yes, we work with suppliers and partners on a long-term basis as we think it is the only way to have a growing business.

Question – When is the busiest time of the year at Iberfruta?

Theoretically, Spring and summer time are the busiest times of year at Iberfruta but we are always busy!

Question – What challenges have Iberfruta faced in recent times?

The biggest challenges we have faced recently include –

• Brexit
• Covid
• The war between Ukraine and Russia
• The drought
• Implementing our new ERP system

Question – What challenges do you think face food producers in 2023?

We believe food safety is going to be the number one challenge for food producers in 2023.

Question – Why do you work with E.E. & Brian Smith?

We started working with E.E. & Brian Smith in 1994. We consider, it is an ideal support to give the best service to our UK´s customers.

Question – What is the most popular product which you supply to the UK?

Our most popular product we sell to the UK is Bitter orange pulp & peel for making marmalade.

Iberfruta factory, Azagra Spain.