Hortifrut, the global fresh and frozen berry production and marketing giant, showed excellent performance in the first quarter of 2021. The company's EBITDA reached US $51.74 million (about RMB 329 million), an increase of 106.39% compared with us $25.07 million (about RMB 160 million) in the same period of last year.
In China, hortifrut has 270 hectares of berry acreage that is heading for maturity, so its Chinese berry production increased by 101.44% to 1544 tons between the first quarter of 2020 and the first quarter of 2021. By 2022, the company expects China to grow at least 500 hectares.
On the other hand, in Mexico, hortifrut has invested nearly 500 hectares of blueberries, 250 hectares of its own varieties of raspberries, and 220 hectares of patented varieties "Centennial" in cooperation with third-party producers. All of these were first harvested in this quarter, with a total of 1578 tons, an increase of 93.05% over the first quarter of 2020.
The company also decided to invest in a new blueberry packaging plant in Mengzi City, Yunnan Province, with a processing capacity of 120 tons per day during the production season. It is the largest blueberry packaging plant in Asia and will meet the demand of hortifrut to supply Chinese customers.