Mexican avocado grower-packer FrutiVal has acquired Californian supplier GreenFruit in an equity exchange deal that is expected to boost an "ambitious" marketing plan in the U.S., China and Japan.

GreenFruit's vice president Brian Gomez told www.freshfruitportal.com he was very excited about the agreement, signed last Wednesday, which would give the company its own conventional and organic avocado supply.

"It’s a big deal for us because now we’re exclusively in Mexico with our partners which is great, and it enables us to have direct access to the fruit, to know what we're paying in the field, and thanks to this new partnership we're able to help grow our current customers’ business and obtain new customers," Gomez said.

"FrutiVal saw the value in GreenFruit and the customers that GreenFruit currently has to be able to have that as a foundation to help grow the business – FrutiVal has one of the most state-of-the-art packing houses in Mexico.

"What's great about it is we have a lot more room for growth in the packing house. We currently have one packing line for the U.S. business and one that’s designated for all international business, and we also have three bagging machines that enable us to bag any program for any customers in the USA or internationally."

FrutiVal's packhouse in Uruapan, Michoacán

He said GreenFruit was looking to make infrastructure investments on the U.S. West and East Coasts, taking one step at a time to grow strategically while boosting sales partnerships in Asia.

"In the emerging markets of Japan and China, those countries are consuming more avocados every year due to the fact they’re getting to know why it’s good for them – they’re starting to learn about the health benefits and why they should incorporate them in their everyday lifestyle," he said.

"We’re seeing in Japan and China what happened here about 11 years ago when I first started in the industry.

"We will be able to compete with the larger companies in getting access to these international accounts. We’re very excited about the future."

GreenFruit is currently sending one or two containers of avocados a week to the Chinese market from FrutiVal's Mexican-grown supply; currently, California-grown avocados are not allowed into the Chinese market.

"It all depends on who you partner yourself up with in China. There are a lot of retailers, supermarket chains in China that can’t take a full container, so you need to have companies that can bring them in," he said.

"I wouldn't say volume is a problem but I would say having the time and manpower with a designation of a dedicated person to run it is the biggest challenge we would run into with the program in China.

"We want to stay in the game, we want to continue to sell fruit in that area, and once the market really develops there I think our brand will stand out for the quality and consistent supply that we’re able to provide for these guys," he said, adding there was also room for growth in the U.S. market too as there was not yet 100% for avocados in the country's households.

When asked about quality standards for the Chinese market, Gomez pointed to two requirements - cosmetically perfect fruit and getting the right oil content.

"They expect perfect-looking avocados. They want the avocados to be perfectly packed, every single piece of fruit with the same shape and no marks," he said.

"What we try to do is special pack that fruit for the Chinese market, and then the second biggest factor is the oil content, the dry matter levels in the fruit.

"When the dry matter level is high in avocados, that means they’re going to ripen twice as fast."

He said rains last year in Mexico meant the late season fruit had relatively high dry matter levels.

"The lower the dry matter, the better for export because of the transit time. The higher the dry matter, the more challenges you’re going to have with customers only having a few days to work with the fruit."

The executive added this year the West Coast market would see a greater proportion of Californian avocados this year due to alternate bearing and a subsequent higher crop.

"I think predominantly we’re not going to see so much Mexican fruit here on the West Coast as we did last year during the California season."

Lead photo: www.shutterstock.com

www.freshfruitportal.com