An organic kiwi producer was fined Privas on Tuesday for 70,000 euros for reselling more than 400 tonnes of Italian kiwis by presenting them as French, AFP learned from concordant sources on Wednesday.
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It was the denunciation of a former employee who launched the investigations into this Ardèche producer. It emerged that in 2019 the latter had sold some 468 tonnes of Italian kiwis by presenting them as French kiwis, sold more expensive, reports the Interprofessional Bureau of Kiwi.
His distribution company was therefore fined 60,000 euros and its exploitation of 10,000 euros, confirms to AFP the floor of Privas. “ He bought with his production company Italian kiwis which he sold through his marketing company. Thus his production company was a little screen "in the fraud, adds the prosecution.
Francization of products
Rarely, the three major agricultural unions (FNSEA, Rural Coordination, Confédération paysanne) had joined civil parties jointly with the Interprofession of Fruit and Vegetables (Interfel) and the Interprofession of Kiwi. “ This kind of amount is a deterrent. What we want is clearly that it stops, ”reacted to AFP Adeline Gachein, director of the Interprofessional Office of Kiwi.
In a press release, the Confédération paysanne recalled that the francization of imported products remained " too frequent in a fruit sector where the narrowness of the margins and the influx of imported goods at low prices incite certain operators to fraud ". In November, two Drôme wholesalers were fined 50,000 and 40,000 euros for similar acts.
In early 2019, the Fraud Prevention Service (DGCCRF) announced that it had initiated legal proceedings against seven companies. Because, according to him, around 12% of the kiwis marketed under a “French origin” (ie 15,000 tonnes) are actually Italian. Or an illegal profit of some 6 million euros over three years, under the “ combined effect of a lower production cost for Italian kiwis and a higher selling price for French kiwis (of the order 30 cents / kilogram) ".
France is the third producer of European kiwis and the 5th worldwide. Most of its production (75%) is found in the South-West and 10 to 15% in Rhône-Alpes.