French Prunes: battles on domestic and world fronts

摘要

The French Ente prune sector is well regulated and does not publicise its internal problems, according to Les Marches. But since the beginning of January an unusually serious battle has broken out for control of the national prune growers' union (GED). The matter dates back to last autumn when the cooperative France Prune purchased the group Saman and its Lot-et-Garonne subsidiary Ibres et Martin with annual production of 7-8 000 tonnes. The merger upset the carefully established balance between private and cooperative operators, to the benefit of the latter (see FVM, November 2002 issue, p11). France Prune became the leader in the industry and also gained union weight in the economic prune council and the Interprofessional Prune Bureau (BIP).