According to Andres Zaragoza Preciado, general director of the dehydrating company Frupo, located in the municipality of Tomatlan, the American market receives all the dehydrated mango that Jalisco sends there and even demands more product; however, half of the mango production is wasted due to a lack of marketing infrastructures.
In just 3 years, the company has conquered the US market where they send around 1,400 tons of dehydrated mango each year.
Currently they are in the peak season, which began in May and will conclude in early October. The mango production is estimated to reach 20 thousand tons.
"Much of this mango was being thrown away because of an oversupply, so we looked for different alternatives, other than the national market, and we discovered that by dehydrating the fruit we could use more of it in the export market. This year we will export 1,400 tons of mango."
He added that it was difficult to quantify the domestic market as they received buyers from all over the country.
Zaragoza Preciado said that last year they had marketed about 45 percent of production.
Jalisco has three areas that produce mangoes: one is in Tomatlan, another in the municipalities of La Huerta and Villa Purificación, and the third area is made up by Jaluco, Barra de Navidad, and Melaque.
The three packers in the area of Barra de Navidad send an estimated 6 thousand tons of mango to the US market, but they work independently, as they are different companies.
Lack of marketing
In the last 30 years the traditional marketing of mango has consisted of direct sales of the product to both the domestic and foreign markets. Now, there are different distribution channels for added value products, which generate employment in the area. However, this still isn't enough.
Zaragoza said they had a very good relationship with the authorities of the Sagarpa and Seder and that they had received support but that the whole sector still needed more.
"Unfortunately, there only a few investors who are taking these risks because the procedure is complicated. It means doing business with people who have an aversion to investors because of previous bad experiences. However, we brokered the scheme and we now have producer partners and a 3 year-old project. We are certified and have customers that buy all of our production."
He asked investors to take a harder look at more agricultural business opportunities on the coast of Jalisco, so that it can develop and they don't lose so much mango. They only have one oven that allows them to dehydrate 726 kilos of fruit a day; 7 kilos of fresh mango equates to less than half a kilo of dehydrated mango.
All the dehydrated mango is shipped to the US. "We will produce 120,000 pounds of dehydrated mango this season, but there are customers willing to buy 12 million pounds, that's how big the market is. This is because consumer habits have changed."
He added that they didn't have the capacity to grow because of the level of investment required to do so. "A customer didn't pay us and we couldn't grow. We want to have another oven, but we also have to increase the area to store mango. The structure, and an oven, can cost about a 1.5 million pesos.
He also said they have been receiving support from the federal and state authorities for a while.
The businessman said that nearly 90 percent of the production was sent to the US and the rest to Canada. The company expects to grow by 58 percent this year.
They will continue with pineapple
Andres Zaragoza, CEO of the company Frupo, said that once the mango season is over, they would start drying pineapple. According to estimates, they will process more than 36 tons of fruit between October and February. In addition they also plan to work with berries, which they have already tested, to send to the Netherlands.
There are about 300 hectares of pineapple cultivation in Jalisco, which gives them a good market potential.
Source: ntrguadalajara.com