US fruit exporters target Mexico – Good Fruit Grower

—by Ross CourtneyThis chart highlights the proportion of U.S. apples, cherries and pears exported to Mexico from 2012 to 2024. (Supply: U.S. Division of Agriculture Overseas Agricultural Service; Graphic: Jared Johnson/Good Fruit Grower)With an enhancing economic system, frictionless entry and a curious shopper base, Mexico has develop into one of many American tree fruit trade’s export markets of selection. Over the previous 10 years, U.S. shippers of apples, cherries and pears have more and more relied on their southern neighbor to prop up their export portfolios, whereas advertising and marketing teams plaster photos of fruit on freeway billboards, grocery store aisles and road stalls together with Mexican colloquialisms and in style film characters.“The Mexican market is sort of resilient,” mentioned Juan Carlos Moreira, employed by the Washington Apple Fee to advertise apples in Mexico. Nearly all U.S. apple exports to Mexico are from Washington.Mexico is the highest export marketplace for apples and pears — and has been for a while. It’s No. 5 for cherries, however the share of exports heading to Mexico has steadily elevated for all three crops over the previous 10 years. In fact, there’s uncertainty, too. Each international locations not too long ago elected new presidents, and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has mentioned he intends to impose new tariffs on Canada, China and Mexico. Additionally, the peso has taken a success in current months.A part of the rationale for Mexico’s rising significance as an export market is the tit-for-tat tariffs levied in additional far-flung markets, which started underneath the primary Trump administration and continued underneath President Biden. Mexico did the identical however has since eliminated tariffs on American fruit. In the meantime, transport prices and port congestion spiked throughout the pandemic. Trucking fruit to Mexico, identical to Canada, isn’t essentially low cost, however at the very least it doesn’t require ocean journey. Mexico’s personal economic system has fostered a curiosity about contemporary produce amongst customers of all revenue ranges.Mexican households have, on common, extra disposable revenue than they used to. The nation’s gross home product in 2020 was 3 times its degree in 1990, in accordance with David Magaña, a market analyst for Rabobank. In the identical timeframe, birthrates fell from about 3.5 youngsters per girl to slightly over 2, about par with the USA. Farm wages in Mexico are additionally going up, even quicker than within the U.S.“Extra Mexican customers are going to supermarkets for contemporary produce,” he mentioned.The nation’s largest retailer is none aside from Walmart, however different chains have constructed out, too, partially changing the street-level stalls and nook shops of the previous. That development offers extra fruit entry to chilly storage and means packers can work immediately with retailers as an alternative of wholesale import firms. What’s extra, Mexican customers present a flexibility in tastes and are keen to attempt extra varieties than they’ve previously. Even membership apples make it to the Mexican market today, whereas customers buy a mix of sizes and grades, too, mentioned Lindsey Huber, worldwide advertising and marketing supervisor for the Washington Apple Fee.Teams selling fruit try to reap the benefits of this upturn.Apples, pears and cherries can all be discovered on billboards and different indicators that springboard off Mexican sayings and traditions. For instance, Grupo PM decks out pink and inexperienced pears as skeletons for Day of the Lifeless murals. Apple entrepreneurs are 5 years right into a marketing campaign with the phrase “Life is less complicated with apples,” a by-product of a Mexican custom of explaining complicated or summary concepts with one thing relatable, reminiscent of an apple.“It takes you again to highschool,” Moreira mentioned. “In your first math e-book, one apple plus one apple is 2.”One of many largest alternatives for pears is within the type of a virtually 15-year partnership that enables Grupo PM to combine pear commercials with main film characters with out paying costly license charges. It began when representatives of twentieth Century Fox reached out to Grupo PM and steered the cross-promotions for the 2010 movie “Gulliver’s Travels,” starring Jack Black. “Marmaduke” adopted. At present, pears subsequent to “Kung Fu Panda” and “Paw Patrol” adorn buses, grocery store aisles and freeway billboards.In Mexico, commercials that blend pears and film characters are widespread, due to a longstanding studio partnership that enables USA Pears to cross-promote with out paying costly license charges. This Paw Patrol-adorned bus says, “Powerfully wholesome.” With an enhancing economic system and quick access, Mexico has grown into an export market of selection for American tree fruit. (Courtesy Grupo PM)“We at all times speak about how fortunate we’re,” mentioned Mónica Moreno Arellano, chief advertising and marketing officer for Grupo PM, which has the contract to advertise USA Pears.At a current assembly of the Pear Bureau Northwest, which collectively promotes Washington and Oregon pears underneath the USA Pears model, director of worldwide advertising and marketing Jeff Correa praised how the trade’s efforts had reshaped the Mexican marketplace for pears.“We’ve reworked that market from a spot to push off the issues of the trade to an important market we depend on,” he mentioned. “It’s our greatest market as a result of it’ll take all value factors.”Tree fruit teams additionally market to import wholesalers, which they collectively name the “commerce,” supplying them with technical details about the fruit and find out how to deal with it. These wholesalers, supermarkets and road stalls all purchase and promote from one another, forming a fancy weave of contemporary fruit commerce within the nation, attracting consumers from most revenue ranges.“We’ve got customers who know what they need,” Moreno Arellano mentioned. •



Source link