Coast Tropical’s Isabel Freeland: Low-ball players upset price stability
Coast Tropical’s Isabel Freeland: Low-ball players upset price stability
For Isabel Freeland, vice president at Coast Tropical in San Diego, it’s a matter of economics.
“We are holding the line. You just can’t sell a box of mangos that cheap,” she said. “There are people out there selling at any price — and that doesn’t help.”
Freeland was speaking of the mango market, which was around $3 per carton for the early part of May with some sales lower. She said just the carton and the transportation added up to $3 so there is no way a shipper should be able to be at a price less than that. “We just don’t understand it.”
A veteran of the mango business, Freeland said there did not appear to be sufficient volume to warrant the very low prices. She blamed non-traditional players in the market who were paying cash for fruit off the trees and marketing it at very low prices.
But at least Freeland was optimistic that the market price would soon rise. “Once we move to Sinaloa, [Mexico], in June, the volume should decrease and the market should get better.”
She also said that the trigger promotion price has to increase as costs have increased over the years. She said some retailers want to only promote at a rock-bottom price and much of the time that is just not realistic.
Freeland said that there seems to be a difference between the two coasts, noting that the industry is getting good promotions from the East Coast at higher prices.
“But not on the West Coast,” she said. They only want to promote when mangos are very, very cheap. We can’t sell mangos at those [f.o.b.] prices anymore. Costs have gone up. There is no way you can sell a carton of mangos for less than $3. We aren’t going to do it. We are going to hold our position.”
As far as new packaging is concerned, Freeland said Coast Tropical will pack in any package a customer wants, and has been doing more RPC [reusable plastic container] packing this year.
“But it’s always risky to do a special pack,” she said. “If you have any kind of problem, there is nowhere else to go with that fruit.”
