by Heather Goulooze, Fresh Plaza,
Driven by North American retail customers, Wonderful Citrus has made acquisitions in the past few years in both Texas and Mexico, which has now positioned them to also branch out onto the European market.
“We have three items that we are really focusing on at the moment, California mineola’s, Texas grapefruit and Mexico limes, which is a mature business in Europe but something new for the company.” said Dan Kass, Director of Export Sales for Wonderful Citrus.
One of the most established programs of American citrus to Europe are Mineola tangelos from California. The mineola’s are sent to Holland this time of year during its short season, lasting 8-10 weeks. Although Europe is not a huge market, it is a steady one for California.
Rio Red from Texas
A recent business development for the company was the acquisition of grapefruit orchards four years ago in Texas, which grow the Rio Red variety.
“It is a development process that we have been taking slow and steady. We have also had to work on the culture in Texas, who had only been used to dealing in the domestic market. Supplying to Europe is much different than to the US in terms of quality specifications and packaging. You have to pay more attention to detail because of market conditions and the competitive nature of Europe compared to the US. Transit times by sea, along with a number of other factors.” said Kass.
Persian limes from Mexico
Around 8 years ago, the company made some acquisitions in Mexico for lemons as well as Persian limes and last year they started their first shipments of Persion limes from Mexico to Europe to develop that business.
The Persian lime, is a green lime which a lot of people use for cocktails like gin and tonics, for cooking, culinary purposes. Although Mexican limes is a mature business in Europe, it is something new to the company and is a development that the company is excited about.
The decision for Wonderful to make the acquisition in Mexico was primarily driven by their North American retail customers. “We didn’t have grapefruit in citrus portfolio, so we made the acquisitions in Texas, and the same thing applies to the Mexican limes. Mexican limes were missing from Wonderful’s portfolio, so the company made acquisitions so they could add them to their offering. As a benefit, the company is developing markets outside of North America for Texas grapefruit and Mexican limes.”
Source: Fresh Plaza