Hortifrut Mexico wants to increase its berry volumes by five to 2020-2021
The company's strategy to supply the market throughout the year contemplates new varieties for berries and increase the area planted, while facing the main challenges of the sector, such as, for example, climate.
The company Hortifrut carries out its strategy to supply the market of berries throughout the year, through its production in different countries. In the same line, Hortifrut Mexico made a change of focus to bet on the growth of new varieties that offer greater productivity and characteristics that differentiate blueberries, strawberries, raspberries and blackberries in terms of size, flavor and texture.
Portal Frutícola spoke with Rigoberto Guerrero, general director of Hortifrut Mexico to learn about the development of the campaign of Mexican berries of Hortifrut, as well as the strategies of the company to promote the category in the country.
Guerrero explained that the objective during the last campaign was "lay the foundations and work hard to overcome obstacles in order to achieve a volume five times greater than the current one for the 2020-2021".
The general director of Hortifrut Mexico said that the said country "live a boom in the production of berries", Since the Mexican blueberry industry grew from the 7,5 million kilos exported to the United States - corresponding to its main market - during the 2013 - 2014 campaign to the 21 million kilos at the close of the 2017 - 2018 season.
"According to our data this campaign will close with a volume 20% higher and we estimate continue growing at a rate of 30% up to 15% per year for the next 4 campaigns"Commented Guerrero.
On the other hand, the general director of Hortifrut Mexico highlighted the importance of the US market for Mexican berries: "As an international company, the diversification of markets is fundamental, since the United States is the number 1 consumer of berries in the world, so it makes sense that most of our exports end there, however, we do not stop have presence and seek to grow in other destinations such as Asia, Europe, Russia, South America or Canada".
"The interesting thing is that, having a coordinated production around the world we manage to maintain a supply in all the markets all year round"Added Guerrero.
Regarding the fruits that have experienced greater growth within the category, the general director of Hortifrut Mexico stressed that "growth is just as important in any of our berries".
"Since the 2013-2014 season we have managed to grow our volumes of blueberries and raspberries three times, while in the 2018 - 2019 season the biggest growth will be with our "Madeleine" blackberry in areas such as Irapuato and Michoacán adding to new blueberry plantations in Jalisco , Sinaloa and Guanajuato", Detailed Guerrero.
"In the blueberry exceeded the 21 million kilos according to data from the Department of Agriculture of the United States (USDA, for its acronym in English) in the same season 2016 -2017, hoping to close this with a further 20% and a rise of one 30% estimated for the 2018-2019 season. Within the berries, this is the one that currently shows a growth with greater speed due to the high returns; although this will probably be reassuring in the next 4-6 years"Explained the representative of Hortifrut in Mexico.
The climate threatens the berries
Despite the growth expectations for all the berries, the strawberries were affected by the weather during the last campaign.
"It is the second consecutive year that producers end up with a high balance as debt in their financing at the industry level. The cold this season was very long which affected the size of the fruit, the production was matured with the very small fruits still and many finished sending a good percentage of their harvest to process. The market prices were not enough to help the producer to have large profits", Explained the general director of Hortifrut Mexico.
Regarding production problems due to the weather, Guerrero commented: "We have had all kinds of experiences, there are cases of producers who have lost practically everything and have to prune after suffering hailstorms or constant strong winds. It has been relevant the presence of small fruit by these weather conditions affecting the quality and productivity of the fields".
In that same line, he added that "As protection measures we have implemented the installation of tunnels in most of our fields and with third-party producers, besides having a team that is always next to the producer to support them and together to reach the goals".
Expectations for the Chinese market
One of the markets that is interesting for Mexican blueberries is China, which was accessed during the 2017, which Hortifrut is venturing with Joint Ventures and local productions to position in that Asian country.
"In Mexico it was very exciting to see our fruit reach China, the reactions and positive comments from customers and consumers. It has been all thanks to excellent teamwork, but there is still much ahead, China does not have much experience in receiving raspberries and blackberries, so there is the challenge and at the same time the opportunity to succeed", Said the CEO of Hortifrut Mexico.
However, Mexico has tariffs of an 25% to enter the Chinese market, so Guerrero said that this is a brake on Mexican exporters, but they expect that agreements will soon be made to benefit shipments to China.
Source: Fruit Portal
Previous article
To the Miraflores neighborhood, the greatARTÍCULOS RELACIONADOS
