Almost 20 years ago, John Shuman realized consumers were clamoring for sweet onions long after the Vidalia crop was gone. Peru provided a great sweet onion alternative and Shuman Produce Inc. in Reidsville, GA, jumped into the game.

“Vidalia and Peruvian sweet onions share the flat, granex shape consumers immediately relate to the sweet, mild flavor of a sweet onion,” Shuman said. “Peruvian sweet onions present our retail partners with the opportunity to maintain a consistent sweet onion program that meets consumer demand all year long.

“Some 17 years later, Shuman Produce is one of the leading Peruvian sweet onion import programs in the industry,” Shuman said. “We maintain a full-time staff in Peru near our operation in Ica, which is the heart of the sweet onion growing region. We recently completed construction on a new sweet onion packing facility in Peru to promote efficiency in our supply chain. Our new facility allows our program to have a new level of flexibility to provide better service to our retail partners and improve our overall Peruvian sweet onion program.”

Sweet onions drive category sales, representing about one-third of the overall onion market, and there is still room to grow.

“Consumers continue to demand a premium sweet onion with a sweet, mild flavor profile. Peruvian sweet onions deliver on quality and flavor and are a consistent shape and color to what consumers have come to recognize as a sweet onion,” Shuman said. “We encourage our retail partners to stock a consistent product all year long and educate their customers on how to identify a sweet onion in order to capitalize on their popularity and take advantage of the increased ring at the register they provide. After all, according to research we conducted with Nielsen Perishables Group, a basket containing sweet onions is approximately 40 percent larger than the average produce basket.”

The success of the Peruvian deal for Shuman and other growers has driven a corresponding increase in traffic at the port of Savannah.

“We’re expecting around 700 containers out of Peru this year, similar to what we imported during the 2014-2015 season. In fact, a recent article in a Georgia Ports Authority publication stated that Shuman Produce represented 29 percent of the total market share of onion imports through the port of Savannah in FY2014.”