Wednesday February 6, 5:55 pm Eastern Time

Press Release

SOURCE: Sunkist Growers

Sunkist Celebrates Its 108th Year With Improved Earnings and a Bright Future

VENTURA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 6, 2002--Nearly 1000 grower-owners and guests of Sunkist Growers attended the cooperative's 108th annual meeting, February 6, 2002 at the Ventura County Fairgrounds in Ventura, California.

The growers heard reports on the results of last year and were given a look forward as the world famous citrus marketing organization reinforces its leadership in the citrus industry.

Sunkist's 2001 financial results were up substantially over the past two years -- two very difficult years for the Western citrus industry hit hard by Mother Nature. Total Sunkist revenues for 2001 were $993 million, up $99 million over 2000 and payments to members grew to $754 million, up $72 million. These results were on a total crop volume of 77 million cartons, up 2 percent over the previous year.

``On a consolidated basis, FOBs, grower returns and net returns per acre improved for all varieties except lemons, which showed a slight decline,'' reported Al Williams, Sunkist's Chairman of the Board. ``And despite this decline, of all the varieties, lemons still yielded the maximum return per acre.

``Although in general, Mother Nature gave us better overall quality fruit to work with,'' Williams continued, ``reduced volume and/or small-sized fruit plagued certain production areas, and as always, fruit quality affected returns.''

New President Looks Ahead

This was Sunkist President and CEO Jeff Gargiulo's first annual meeting since assuming the presidency of the 6,000 member cooperative in June, 2001. His message focused on the future.

Sunkist's mission, he said, is to provide the best possible returns to its growers and the best possible product to its customers. ``The successful accomplishment of that mission depends on mastering the changing dynamics of the produce industry.''

Among those changing dynamics, Gargiulo cited the ongoing retail and foodservice industry consolidation which is centralizing purchasing decisions among fewer and fewer buyers. The consumer is also changing, he added, demanding convenience as well as quality. Adding to the changes is the globalization of produce and the new and growing diversity of products available, which means there are many more produce choices competing for shelf space and consumer favor.

``Sunkist is developing new ways to meet these challenges,'' he said. ``We have studied the market. We have listened to our customers. And we are making the changes necessary to ensure that Sunkist is aligned to offer the best service to our trade.'' Sunkist, which offers year-round supplies of a wide variety of fresh citrus items, is uniquely positioned to meet the volume, size and quality needs of its largest partners, Gargiulo said. ``Our strength lies in our brand, a name that is recognized the world over. We are now focused on deriving the full benefit from our famous trademark.

``Sunkist has new tools - innovative packaging, exciting promotions and sophisticated data gathering and research programs to establish in our customers' minds that we are the citrus category leader. Our new marketing promotions and programs are customer-focused to drive sales for our retail, wholesale and foodservice partners. By focusing on the customer, we are finding new ways to compete.''

Sunkist Growers is the world's oldest and largest citrus marketing cooperative. Its members are 6,000 citrus growers in California and Arizona and it markets its fresh citrus and processed citrus products worldwide.

 

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