From its North American headquarters in Vero Beach, FL, Seald Sweet International and its global partner the Belgium-based UNIVEG Group are positioned as an international fruit “gateway to North America” and are looking forward to having home field advantage at the Southeast Produce Council’s Southern Exposure trade show in Orlando Feb. 26-28.

While the century old Seald Sweet is best known as a full line citrus grower-shipper, the product line has expanded considerably and now includes grapes, pears, apples, and blueberries, with other commodities available for growth through their global network like cherries, figs, and stonefruit.

Seald Sweet CEO Mayda Sotomayor-Kirk.“We have a renewed focus on our growth strategies,” said Seald Sweet CEO Mayda Sotomayor-Kirk. “In the last year, UNIVEG, our parent company, underwent some changes in the shareholder structure which sparked concentrated attention on the U.S. market and its growth potential. Now we are geared towards expanding in the U.S. and North American markets.”

Seald Sweet rolled out its new easy peel proprietary mandarin, “Mandarina’s,” at PMA to great acclaim and will again be promoting the hot commodity at Southern Exposure.

“Mandarina’s” brand sweet mandarins are the first new Seald Sweet product launch in several years and “it’s been really exciting to be able to take on something that has really grown so much in the U.S. market,” Director of Marketing Kim Flores said. “And there’s still room for more growth in the category and an opportunity to put a different take on it: How proprietary varieties are differentiated from the typical mandarin/clementine category is a big focus for us with this brand.”

But also look for news on the company’s other growing programs.

“We’re investing in growth commodities for the U.S. market that our company has the competencies to handle, like proprietary varieties of easy peelers, imported grapes and pears from our network of companies in the UNIVEG Group,” Sotomayor-Kirk said. “Those are things that make good sense to us, especially in the mandarin category. There’s still steady growth in the U.S. market in that category and good solid business in the others like grapes and pears. The goal is to further develop access and ties in the U.S market and we at Seald Sweet are the gateway for that. We’re very privileged to have these opportunities in front of us.”

Those opportunities “tie into a bigger overall message that we’re conveying: We’re growing forward and we’re giving back,” Flores said. “Growing forward by doing things like responding to the trends in the U.S market and growth commodities, and giving back through our social programs around the world. It’s important that we are always trying to complete that cycle — you grow a little, you give a little.”