The Chilean company Pacific Nut -from the Sutil corporate group- is one of the biggest dried fruit producers in the world.
They offer prunes, almonds, nuts and raisins. In relation to the first ones, they export 5,500 tons per year; this amount will be more or less the same this year regarding 2023 amounts.
With this safety net, Cristián Infante, general manager of Pacific Nut, underlines the work done in the company in relation to sustainability, “which has allowed, for example, to reduce the use of water in 60% in relation to the previous year in the process of pitting the prunes”.
Their goal is to advance faster than the industry and the have been releasing sustainability reports for 3 years even though it was not an obligation for the industry. Moreover, they joined the NetZero 2030 challenge which is a compromise whose objective to reach zero net emissions of greenhouse gases for that year.
“We know that we are in the right direction. Sustainability is not key to every country that we export, but as time passes it is becoming more important to our global consumers”, he says.
With that in mind, since 2019, Pacific Nut is a certified B company and it is part of a global movement whose goal is to redefine the meaning of success in economy, using the strength of the market to solve environmental and social problems searching for the triple impact, that is to say: economic, environmental and with the community. Since 2018 they have the certification Footprint Quantification Chile. This is the national program for the management program for emissions of greenhouse gases in little, medium and big institutions. Also, they measure the water footprint in all its process so as to improve with every season.
In addition, Pacific Nut is certified in SMETA 4P since 2020 and for this reason it is a member of Sedex, a collaborative platform aimed at sharing information about ethics, social practices, security and environment along the entire supply chain.
Other news
Cristián Infante – sometimes with Domingo Calvo, recently appointed commercial manager – has not stopped participating in international encounters of the sector this 2024.
Gulfood Fair in Dubai, the World Congress of Dried and Dehydrated Fruits INC and the Mewa Fair in India are some examples. He has confirmed directly the interest in prunes. Even more, he has seen the same interest in different markets as China and also other countries in Asia and Europe.
“The Indian case is interesting. It is a market with a lot of potential where we have to convince the Indian consumer, make him acquainted with the product, specially its health benefits and properties for a healthy nutrition. On the other hand, it is also interesting what is happening in Europe whose stocks have moved a lot recently”, he says.
On another subject, Cristián Infante underlines the advance in productive process which “are very established in the company. Regarding pitting we have an electronic selection which is giving us products of a higher quality”.
Pacific Nuts only works with D’agen plumbs from their own plantations or from producers who meet high requirements of quality. Once in the factory, the prune is calibrated, tenderized and pitted with state-of-the-art machines. Prunes in natural condition, tenderized with its pit and pitted by Ascot or Elliot machines are offered.
