agriculture

OJ goes hi-tech in Coclé

The industrial consortium of citrus product companies Panamá Best and Low Country announced that it has installed the first plant in Panama capable of processing Valencia red oranges straight from Coclé orange groves.

According to Low Country official Alex Persful, the new plant will generate an additional 5,000 gallons of orange juice a day, increasing the amount of product available for domestic consumption and export. As of this month, he said, they have only produced 25 percent of the projected production for the 2007-2008 season. Last week, the company shipped two containers of orange juice and pulp to Europe.

The consortium profits from a division of labor. Low Country owns and manages the groves in the norther Tambo region of Coclé, while Panamá Best, the juice production half, manages the plant. Besides fresh orange juice, the consortium also sells pulp and other byproducts.

Hermel Guardia, manager of the new processing plant, explained that the majority of juice his plant squeezes supply the national market, including hotel chains, restaurants and supermarkets.

He mentioned that transporting the product to city markets over worn rural roads had been a major problem until recently, when company officials petitioned the government to service and extend them.

Last year, the company reported that two million oranges, or 10 thousand quintals, went to supply the domestic market.