Through the growth of its strategic partnerships in Central America and South America, Kingston & Associates Marketing LLC has expanded its mango program to include imports from Brazil.

With established grower relationships in Costa Rica, Peru and Guatemala, the move signals the first of several program expansions marked for 2012-13 season.

“Kingston has over 38 years building and sourcing the highest-quality fresh produce programs from an array of countries and grower sources,” Ken Nabal, president of Kingston Marketing, said in a press release. “By establishing a reliable and year-round program with our grower relationships in these countries, Kingston is able to effectively extend the mango season for our customers. Better service to our customers is our number one priority.”

With nearly 30 fresh produce programs marketed by five regional sales offices, the expansion into Brazil is the company’s latest progression of its growing imports division.

The program follows recent developments at Kingston involving its international imports division. In May, the company hired Yvonne Marpert, formerly of Chiquita and Sunkist, to head its pineapple program and has since established a sales office in the Cincinnati area. In July, Kingston promoted Mike Anderson to director of international procurement to also give focus to the imports division.

“Based on the belief the brand is what the brand does, we continue the expansion and integration of our businesses within the vertical supply chain,” Dave Kingston, chief executive officer and majority owner of Kingston, said in the press release. “Kingston remains committed to providing customer-driven fresh food programs. Between expanded international procurement activities, new sales offices and recruitment of proven talent, we are improving our service level to our customers. It is an exciting time at Kingston.”

“The number one focus of this program and all of our programs is to follow our core brand promise at Kingston — a relentless commitment to product quality, food safety and customer service,” Mr. Nabal added in the press release.