“We have a large Mexican table grape program,” says Chris DeSana with Seald Sweet. “We ship about 700,000 cartons of table grapes from Mexico each season.” Our three year plan is to market over a million cases annually. The season started May 11 and supplies are increasing daily. However, the rate of increase is slower than last year due to cool temperatures in the growing regions. “This results in a slight delay, but shouldn’t change total crop volume,” said DeSana. “In June, our growing regions will hit peak production before the season ends around July 1st”.
Hermosillo and Caborca regions
Seald Sweet mainly sources its grapes from the Hermosillo and Caborca regions in Mexico as these are the two main growing regions in Mexico. Through its Mexican program, the company offers all colors from the beginning of the harvest to the end. This includes green seedless (Perlette & Sugraone) flame seedless, black seedless (Summer Royal & Autumn Royal) and red globes. “In line with packaging trends and demand, we developed a high-graphic, stand-up pouch bag for our grape programs. It has been very well received by retailers,” adds DeSana.
Community development
Seald Sweet distributes table grapes during the first six months of the year. Prior to the start of the Mexican program, table grapes are sourced from Peru and Chile. “The growers and organizations that we partner with are very well established and take fair labor standards and social responsibility seriously,” said Kim Flores with Seald Sweet. “They give back to the workers through community development and social programs. For example, they have onsite health clinics and continuing education programs for workers and they encourage community activities like group sports.”
For more information:
Chris DeSana / Kim Flores
Seald Sweet International
Tel: (+1) 772-569-2244