ISRAEL: Citrus Board closed its JAFFA offices in Europe

After eight years in which the JAFFA promotion has been carried out by representatives of the Citrus Marketing Board of Israel (CMBI), beginning with this season this responsibility will from now on be transferred to each exporter, according to Mena Davidson, CMBI general manager. He said that this step has been taken after the Board decided to restructure its JAFFA brand promotional and advertising layout in Europe."We decided to restructure our promotion activities in Europe after an in-depth analysis pertaining to the changes and the trends in the global citrus industry in general and the situation in Israel in particular," Mr Davidson said. Trade sources in the Israeli citrus sector commented that this decision is a result, mainly, of the severe crisis of the Israeli citrus industry, following two years of heavy losses incurred to growers. The losses stemmed from low yields in the last two seasons, the fierce competition from other sources, mainly from Spain and Morocco, and to a large extent, especially during the preceding season, due to the collapse of the euro against the dollar and the Israeli Shekel.It is estimated that the financial damages to Israeli growers were some 30% down compared with revenues they had in previous seasons. In view of the losses, CMBI reduced levies by 8% imposed on exporters.The new structure of JAFFA promotion in Europe, according to Mr Davidson, calls for the exporters to assume responsibility for promoting their citrus in the sales points which carry their fruit. CMBI will continue to maintain the JAFFA brand equity, supported by general media promotion campaigns, "but in a limited way compared with previous seasons." The Citrus Marketing Board maintained for many years representatives in The UK, France and Scandinavia.and control in fulfilling them.