rio rico, az — And, suddenly, there was MAS Procurement and Sales.

It’s not every day that a veteran sales team moves into your produce distribution office.

Rosie Cornelius, who was just honored as the 2018 “Industry Pillar” at the 50th Nogales Produce Convention, has long led a great sales team. The group first assembled while working from Nogales for Bay Area Produce, which was based in California.

In the new sales room of MAS Sales & Procurement are Mikee Suarez, Ruben Zúniga, John Meek, Jerry Meek, Rosie Cornelius and Miky Suarez.After operating for 40 years, the company closed a couple of years ago. Cornelius and her Bay Area sales team then collectively moved to represent Grant J. Hunt Co., based in Oakland, CA; while still working from Nogales.

When Grant J. Hunt recently closed its Nogales office, in September Cornelius visited with Nogales-based produce companies about new opportunity for her veteran band. Then, in a very rapid move, they created a partnership with MAS Melons & Grapes LLC. The new group is MAS Procurement and Sales.

Miky Suarez, a partner and the sales manager of MAS Melons, said that Cornelius’ team is independent of MAS Melons.

“We operate separately.” The new company works from sunny offices which are on the first floor of MAS’ bright two-story office building and warehouse in Rio Rico.

The company name, MAS Procurement & Sales aptly describes its operations. “They buy all over town and from Texas and California,” Suarez said. Many of those loads are consolidated in MAS’ warehouse. In some cases, MAS Melons ships its own product with MAS Procurement items.

MAS has “a very good operating system, which is helping them,” Suarez said. “We are very happy to have them, and we’ve known them forever. They are decent people. This fell from Heaven to us!”

Suarez said MAS Melons & Grapes “sells products for growers we receive from.”

Suarez said his wife, Marina Suarez, has long been the finance manager for MAS Melons. Now she is working full time, watching the finances of the sister companies.

MAS Melons & Grapes

Suarez said “2018 has been the best year ever for us sales-wise, in dollars, and in terms of boxes sold.

“Our growth has been a combination of more vegetables sales, with soft squash, and also with our avocado business.”

MAS exports avocados and other Mexican products – primarily honeydew — to Japan. The avocados from Michoacán are shipped 12 months a year to Japan.

“We’re not yet shipping Mexican avocados to the U.S., but we’re looking into it,” Suarez said.

MAS has a two-man sales team in Japan. Those representatives are building “steady growth.”

This includes a new effort to export Mexican watermelons and grapes. Sea containers take 21 days to arrive in Japan and the grape quality has been very good, given proper postharvest handling.

Suarez said MAS has exported Mexican grapes to New Zealand for several years and, in addition to Japan, “now we’re looking at other Oriental countries. I’d like to give China a try.”

MAS started shipping fall honeydew, watermelon and mini-watermelons Oct. 1. That deal will run until mid-December.

MAS’ winter melon deal is to begin from Colima in mid-December, with the three melon types mentioned above. Also, cantaloupe grown in Colima will be exported to Japan.

Hard squash shipments for MAS began in mid-November. Soft squash supplies come online in mid-October.

“This was a good year for us on grapes,” Suarez said. “Our grape volume was a little less, but prices were a lot higher, which contributed to the growth. Last year was so good for us. The grape prices were higher than any other year. But even though prices were high, we stood by our commitments to customers.”

Last year was the first for MAS to ship the proprietary SNFL Ivory grape. “Next year we will start shipping some new varieties from other breeders. And we will continue with our Perlettes, Flames and Sugraones.”

MAS ships Sonoran grapes from Hermosillo and Caborca.