To strengthen its foreign sales and increase its profitability, the great challenge of Brazilian fruit growers is to guarantee the protection and conservation of its products until they reach consumers' hands. Always attentive to the demands of Brazilian agribusiness, Braskem developed, in partnership with customers, a new plastic solution exclusively for the Brazilian papaya market.

The petrochemical company worked with the Union of Growers of Brazilian Papaya (UGBP), a producer company in Linhares (ES) - a region known as the national capital of papaya exports. Together, the companies developed a safer and more attractive packaging, and the big challenge was finding a suitable film that did not harm the fruit. "We wanted to offer a quality gain to consumers and to establish our brand. Thus, we were able to develop a package that meets all the requirements", says Rodrigo Martins, director of UGBP.

Now, papaya leaves to other countries involved in a polyethylene film, which confers the quality, safety and aesthetics that the local farmers wanted. According to Martins, the use of plastic can reduce some of the most common losses to fruits in the market. After several tests, it was clear that the packaging enables a more uniform fruit maturation, ensuring protection against any contamination and increasing the exposure time in stands in up to four days.

The new packaging is already available in Brazil and in the United States - one of the main consumers of Brazilian papaya in the world - in the individual and box versions. "The partnership with the UGBP producers was very productive and successful. Our biggest challenge was to align the technology of our resin with the demands of the farmers, but always aiming at consumers' desires in such different markets in Brazil and abroad. It was another successful test for Braskem's portfolio in the packaging industry", says Albertoni Bloisi, responsible for the Market Development area at Braskem.

With an average production of 600 tons of papaya per month, UGBP exports to France, Germany, Italy, Holland, Portugal, Poland, Spain, England, Canada and to the United States. In the national market, the organization sells to the South, Southeast and Midwest regions. 

About Braskem
With a global, human-oriented vision of the future, Braskem's 8,000 members strive every day to improve people's lives by creating sustainable chemical and plastic solutions. It is the largest resin producer in the Americas, with an annual production of 20 million tons, including basic chemicals and petrochemicals, and revenues of R$ 55 billion in 2016. It exports to customers in approximately 100 countries and operates 41 industrial units located in Brazil, USA, Germany and Mexico, the latter in partnership with Mexican Idesa.