APCOR TAKES CORK FARAWAY

In recent years, the cork sector has been focusing on two main areas: quality and communication. The first, which is very much in charge of companies, is reflected in the modernization of industrial units, research and development, investment in technology and the qualification of human resources. A work that has responded to the demands of the customers and that has allowed the sector to adapt to the new industrial paradigms, putting the cork in the level of the most modern and intelligent industries.

Much of the current success and growth of the sector is particularly due to a unique ability (with particular emphasis on its agents) of reinventing itself and to the various technological advances – the so-called Industry 4.0 –, which had allowed the correspondence to the various challenges to which the cork sector has been subjected.

In what concerns communication, since 2000 that the Portuguese Cork Association (APCOR) has been assuming a prominent role taking cork faraway. The various international campaigns already developed are the clear example of this. In order to even more effectively respond to the requests that APCOR has been receiving, it was recently established the Cork Welcome Center (CWC). With its headquarters in Santa Maria de Lamas, in the installation of the association, this space aims to be an information center on cork and is open to welcome visitors who wants to know more about the raw material. Therefore, the aim is to be a showcase of the sector, getting the cork and its properties to be known, as well as highlighting the multiple applications of cork and the sectorial innovation. 

This information center of the cork sector will also be an excellent vehicle to show the district of Aveiro, in particular the municipality of Santa Maria da Feira, to thousands of visitors who want to know more about cork and its potential. Associated to this space, APCOR will continue to promote visits to industrial units, following the "Cork Experience Tour", which has already brought more than 1500 visitors to the region.

Tourism in general and wine tourism in particular are increasingly assuming a prominent role in the reality of Portugal and the CWC is surely a good opportunity for tourists to get to know the cork, a reference raw material of our country which assures 50% of world production and 63% of world exports!

This leadership and preference, both of consumers and producers, is being reinforced by the successive discoveries that relate cork to quality wines.

The recent discovery of a batch of Madeira wine, dating from 1866, showed another opportunity for APCOR to demonstrate the versatility of cork and the ability of its agents to innovate. It was then developed a cork with its own characteristics to make the "recorking" of this batch that will be auctioned by the British reference Christie's. It should be recalled that the Declaration of Independence of the United States was signed and celebrated with Madeira Wine, so this discovery took a leading role in the media worldwide, which is also aware of this innovative contribution of the cork industry in Portugal.

To learn more about this and other stories relating wine and cork, APCOR invites all readers to visit Cork Welcome Center.