Turning to FruVeg’s situation, Espinosa said the future is bright, with volume increases across the board. “We continue to experience growth on asparagus, kiwis, blueberries, grapes, clementines, pears, cherries, plus many more items,” he said. “Between the value-added packs for each commodity, and the excellent customer service our sales staff provides our clients, it has all helped us immensely in our yearly growth.”
Speaking specifically of its Peruvian asparagus program, the company’s top executive said its Petit Gourmet Green Asparagus one-pound and eight-ounce bags are doing very well at retail. “Our team took some time to perfect the material of the bag and handling to ensure a good shelf life and it has truly paid off,” he said. “Our staff also does constant store checks of our bags, they take some home, and study the shelf life of the product to ensure perfection.”
Concerning industry trends and issues, Espinosa said green asparagus continues to dominate sales to the U.S. market. And he said ocean shipments of asparagus have improved dramatically over the years, which has helped that less expensive mode of transportation dominate the business. “We will have a similar mix of sea/air as the previous year (20-30 percent by air). The air freight cost is what dictates how much we import between both services,” he reasoned. “The sea shipments arrive very quickly now a days, so the product arrives in much better conditions than it did many years ago.”
Peruvian asparagus still must be fumigated before it can be sold in the United States which eliminates the possibility of organic asparagus imports, but there have been signs that the USDA could alter the protocol. In fact, within the last several months the agency has approved a non-fumigation alternative for some Chilean grapes. “The Peruvian Asparagus Importers Association, importers, growers and many others have been trying hard to eliminate the fumigation,” Espinosa said. “It’s been an ongoing topic for many years. It does seem like we are getting somewhere, but difficult to know when it may happen.”
He did praise the efforts of the logistics firms in delivering excellent quality Peruvian asparagus to the U.S. market. “Inbounds are currently running very smoothly. The asparagus shipping lines do a phenomenal job getting through the Panama Canal and around high seas during challenging weather,” he stated.