Greg Wright
Deputy Business Editor

BRITISH manufacturers must be flexible to survive - and one Yorkshire company is embracing change by giving a fast growing branch of Tunisia’s economy a firmer foundation. Sheffield-based Gripple has anchored itself in the Tunisian grape growing market.

The manufacturer, which is already a leading supplier of tension wire in French vineyards, has started distributing kits for vineyard trellising in the North African country. Gripple is speeding up the development of Tunisia’s vineyard plantations by providing kits for 1,000 hectares on a site near Tunis which is partly-owned by French company Groupe Castel.

Eric Laroche, Gripple’s regional manager for agriculture, said : "Our products allow the installation of uniform trellis systems and help provide a consistent support for the growth of grapes. At the end of the harvest the wires can also be re-tensioned quickly and easily." Gripple’s kit secures end posts in vineyards and orchards, which are connected to in-ground anchors with high-strength galvanised wire rope.

Last year, Gripple won the Yorkshire and Humber Chambers’ award for its export business, which accounts for 85 per cent of sales. It has offices in Europe, South Africa and US.

11 August 2005