The mandarin continues to be the most sought-after variety, with average sales prices in the fields of between 22% and 28% above the next most popular one.
These figures are a result of many reasons, such as the fact that it is a protected variety, a title that was granted to it by the Community Plant Variety Office (CPVO) until 2043, and which allows license holders to enjoy exclusive development for several decades.
A very important factor in Orri’s success is that it is the only mandarin that has a limitation on licences that has not varied over these ten years and its production, in addition to the plant breeder country, Israel, has remained limited to Spain and Portugal. Without forgetting that it has an exclusive and strict variety management system carried out by the variety’s producers association, the Orri Running Committee (ORC).
This system is underpinned by the identification of the licensed Orri fruit with the aim of ensuring the fruit’s legitimate origin, avoiding unfair competition from unauthorised producers or fraud to consumers. All of this is carried out by monitoring, through audits performed on all the links in the value chain.
Superior Taste Award
Orri has recently obtained the Superior Taste Award as recognition for the product’s excellence, its image and authentic, natural flavour, all of which are differential characteristics of this variety.
In this way, Orri has become the first mandarin variety to be internationally recognised with the maximum award (three stars) granted by the International Taste Institute (ITI) in Brussels and that is granted to different products based on the evaluation of their sensorial characteristics, in other words, their visual appearance, smell, taste and texture.
Accordingly, the jury highlighted the impressive visual aspect of the Orri mandarin, along with its luminosity and the firmness of its skin. In addition to its fresh, natural smell, its excellent texture and exceptional flavour, with the perfect balance between sweet and acid, which have made it well-deserving of this important international recognition.
As Guillermo Soler, Manager of Orri explains, “this recognition is a milestone for a mandarin variety. We are very satisfied that the Orri mandarin is the first mandarin variety to ever obtain it.”
