Central American Produce continues with new label
Central American Produce continues with new label
As Central American Produce Inc. shifts from its Mexican mango deal to the Ecuadorian deal, it is also continuing its label shift to the more descriptive “CAPCO” brand.
Sabine Henry, who is involved in tropical sales for the Pompano Beach, FL-based firm, said it began the shift from the “Mayan Pride” label to “CAPCO” to better identify the company name. CAPCO is an acronym for Central American Produce Co. and can represent all of the firm’s mangos, which it will do at some point in the future.
“We are shifting slowly,” said Henry. “First Mexico and now Ecuador. Next year’s we will use it in Brazil as well.”
As she spoke on Sept. 9, Central American Produce was well into its Brazilian mango deal.
“We started close to a month ago,” she said, but added that volume has been very light. “Unfortunately, it looks like overall it is going to be a down year for Brazil’s volume.”
She explained that cold weather has delayed the volume and Brazil hasn’t exported anywhere near the volume that is usually sent to the United States during the August-September time frame.
While Brazil’s volume is expected to pick up in October, Henry said its marketing window could close soon thereafter resulting in much less volume this season.
She added that the freight cost advantage is considerable for Ecuador, which is quite a bit closer to the United States. Once Ecuador starts landing fruit in Florida or California at a lower cost, Brazil sends its fruit elsewhere. The good news for Brazil is it does have other options, including a fairly robust domestic market.
Henry said the market price for Brazilian mangos has also presented those exporters with some good news. On Sept. 9, she said Brazilian mangos were commanding a strong $9 per carton. The Central American representative said the strong pricing has continued what has been a good mango run this summer. She said the Mexican fruit was well received all year at pretty good prices.
“It was a very good program this year,” she said.
