In the early 1920s Lorenzo Bauza Juan arrived in Chile from Mallorca, Spain and established the family’s first plantations in La Serena. The Bauza plantations initially produced wheat and grapevines that they used for the production of pisco, a popular liquor made from grapes. Later, the production of table grapes in the area was of a very high quality. In light of the changes in the market, Lorenzo Bauza Alvarez, son of the founder, entered successfully into the fresh fruit industry. Nowadays, this visionary man works with three of his five children in the production and exportation of fruit, as well as pisco and more recently, wines.

Bauza Exports produces, packs and exports fruits, mainly table grapes and plums. In terms of seedless grapes, the company exports the Perlette, Sugraone, Beauty, Flame, Thompson, Black, and Crimson varieties and, in the seeded, the Red Globe. As for plums, these include Red Beat, Early Queen, Santa Rosa, Black Amber and Larry Anne varieties.

The company has plantations of grapes in Copiapo, located about 380 miles north of Santiago. This area is famous for having the earliest production and exports of grapes in the whole country. The family still has its original plantations in the fourth region of Chile, east of La Serena, a zone of higher productivity for grapes. Lately, they have added 125 acres dedicated to avocados and citrus.

About 80 percent of the company’s exports are destined to the United States through Philadelphia and Los Angeles. “Our fruit exports have been growing at an annual rate of five percent,” explained Lorenzo Bauza Fernandez, executive vice-president of Bauza Export and grandson of the founder. His objective is to achieve exports of 1.2 million boxes within the next five years. He also pointed out that the company is among the top first 25 exporters of fruit in Chile and in terms of volume within the first five that are family businesses.

In addition to selling their fruit exports to traders like Chiquita, Giumarra, Vandenberg, Giumarra and Sbrocco, Bauza Export has been selling its fruit directly to supermarkets, such as Super Value and others. This has also allowed the company to get closer to the final consumer.

Bauza is always looking for new markets and niches, the reason why it is currently working to increase its presence in the Far East and Latin America, while maintaining its strong exporting relationship with the United States.

“We believe that a free trade agreement with the United States will provide guarantees for our products and eliminate barriers, that not necessarily have to do with good agricultural practices,” added Bauza, who also stressed the words in the motto of his family’s traditional: “Dedication and effort in producing highest quality for the benefit of the world’s demanding consumers.”
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