Agrexco Agricultural Export Company Ltd. (trading as Carmel Agrexco) was Israel’s largest exporter of agricultural produce, with the European Union one of its major markets. Agrexco went into liquidation in August 2011, with debts of €175 million ($217 million), mainly owed to its bondholders that were mostly Israeli Institutional investors.
Etymology
The name "Agrexco" comes from the English words "
Agriculture
Export
Company".
"Carmel" is the internationally recognized brand name used by Agrexco for fresh produce exports from Israel.
[ Carmel: Agrexco's brand name. Retrieved on 24 June 2009]
History
Agrexco was established in 1956.
Company description
Agrexco was formerly a state-owned company, with 50% of its stock held by the
Israel, 25% by the Israeli
Marketing board, and 25% by
Tnuva.
In August 2008, the Israeli government approved a privatization program for Agrexco, stipulating that at least 51% of Agrexco's stock should be tendered to private investors.
[ Israel Export Institute, press release on privatization of Agrexco, 1 September 2008 ] This decision follows in the wake of the recently completed transformation of
Tnuva from a cooperative owned by Israeli farmers (
kibbutzim and
moshavim) to a private company owned by
Apax Partners. In 2007, Agrexco marketed 435,000 tons of fresh agricultural produce with a turnover of €653 million. This consisted mainly of
vegetables (47%),
cut flowers (19%), and
(14%).
In addition to exporting the produce of Israeli farmers inside the Green Line and in
West Bank settlements, Agrexco is the main export channel to Europe for Palestinian fresh produce from
Gaza City (carnations,
strawberries,
, vine tomatoes),
[ Fresh produce exports from Gaza to EU . Retrieved on 2008-09-24.] which is marketed under the
Coral brand name.
[ Coral brand name for Palestinian produce exports. Retrieved on 24 June 2009]
Global market
Agrexco has a global network of marketing branches operating in
London,
Frankfurt,
Paris,
Rotterdam, New York,
Zurich,
Vienna,
Madrid, and
Milan.
[ Agrexco's global marketing. Retrieved on 2008-09-24.] Special sales offices in Israel deal with countries where Agrexco does not have representative offices, such as
Eastern Europe, the
Far East and
Near East. Carmel Agrexco's main
United Kingdom depot is in Swallowfield Way, Hayes,
Middlesex.
Organic produce
In 2009, Agrexco reported a sharp increase in the export of organic fruit and vegetables to Europe. Sales amounted to some €550 million. Agrexco also markets organic fruit and vegetables not sold in Israel, such as acorn squash, persimmons, Peruvian apple cactus, hot organic chili and mini palm tomatoes.
Germany has shown the highest growth in demand for organic produce from Israel, followed by UK,
France,
Italy and
Switzerland.
Protests in the UK
In 2006, the British anti-poverty charity War on Want reported that in addition to being the largest exporter of Israeli produce, Agrexco was the leading exporter of produce from Israeli settlements.
[ Profiting from the Occupation , War on Want] On 5 July 2007, ten activists entered Carmel Agrexco depot in Hayes, Middlesex. The Israeli flag was replaced with a Palestinian flag, and the black-and-red flag of anarcho-syndicalism took the place of the Union Flag.
The activists handed leaflets to the workers, and two locked themselves to equipment with D locks.
On 18 August 2007, activists from the Camp for Climate Action entered Carmel Agrexco's UK warehouse, tore down the Israeli flag and locked themselves to gates.
The UK Press Association quoted Amos Orr, the general manager: “A lot of them were drunk. They broke doors, spread papers everywhere and they were very aggressive. They were singing about
Hamas.” These allegations have not been verified.
On 21 June 2008, activists occupied and shut down Carmel Agrexco's HQ and UK freight warehouse for over six hours.
See also
