“Market demand has increased compared to last quarter. Breakfast products are struggling to take off, but the processed fruit segment for the ice cream sector is growing. We’re talking about all kinds of freshly pressed Sicilian fruit to make our own artisanal juice,” says Vincenzo Mirrione, who owns the Sicilian company Migel with his brothers, Alessandro and Francesco. Their father, Pasquale Mirrione, founded the company in the 1980s.
“The market for citrus juices, especially lemon juice, is good and growing,” he continues. “Demand for pomegranate juice is slightly declining. Our flagship product remains lemon juice. In the current campaign, we have increased our marketing volumes by around 20 percent compared to the previous campaign.”
Founded in 1987 in the industrial area of Palermo, Migel is a family business that started as a food product distribution company using the cold chain. In 2002, the company began operating independently with a small laboratory for processing native Sicilian strawberries in new facilities in Carini, also province of Palermo. Today, Migel offers a variety of concentrates and natural juices made from citrus fruits, such as lemons, red and blond oranges, and mandarin oranges; watermelons; strawberries; black and red mulberries; peaches; prickly pears; and pomegranates. The company uses these ingredients to produce semi-finished products primarily for the ice cream industry.
Processing juice in pouches
“We just finished the campaign for strawberries, wild strawberries, and black mulberries,” Vincenzo Mirrione explains. “These are market niches, and as is the case with all fresh fruit, their prices are rising. Currently, there is high demand for mangoes, but Sicily does not produce enough to meet the needs of the processing industry, so we have to import them.”
“For our fresh products, we pick Sicilian mangoes at just the right stage of ripeness to ensure the perfect amount of sugar. The harvest season typically begins in early August and ends in mid-November, depending on the weather.”
“Natural productions are in high demand right now,” says Miguel’s sales manager, Franco Milazzo. “There’s plenty of room for growth for artisan companies that stand out from industrial productions. The prickly pear campaign is expected to yield substantial quantities of high-quality fruit, and the same is true for pomegranates if the weather remains favorable.” However, demand for pomegranates is declining for two main reasons: the high cost of production and difficulty marketing due to fierce foreign competition. This is why many producers have converted their pomegranate plantations to avocado cultivation. The global and national avocado markets are both vibrant and full of potential. In response to rising demand in Italy for healthy, sustainably grown superfoods, the local supply chain is carving out its own space.”
Migel processes juices by blast-chilling them to -20° to stop fermentation. Then, they are packed in thin, single-portion packs in 2.5 kg formats for individual customers and 20-25 kg formats for industrial use. All products are packaged within three hours of processing and immediately made available for sale.
The company sells its own line of juices and purées to bars, ice cream parlors, and confectioneries in Sicily and central Italy. Small shares of turnover are achieved through exports to Sweden and Corsica, which are growing.
For more information: 
Vincenzo Mirrione
Migel Srl
Via Ercole, 99
0044 Carini (Pa) – Italy
(+39) 091 8691204
(+39) 335 6385955
[email protected]
www.migel.it
