High demand for Dominican long beans in Europe
She is particularly proud of the 4.5MT of long beans her company ships every week via air freight to Holland. Angelica says “long beans are a “hot” product because of a high respiration rate. We Dominican exporters have an advantage over competing countries in the region because of a large number of direct flights with Europe during the winter tourism season that we can use to ship our product and deliver it fresher and with a longer shelf life.”
She says that in winter months she cannot meet the high European demand and it keeps growing.
Long beans (Vigna unguiculata subsp. sesquipedlis) are consumed by ethnic markets of Surinamese, West Indians, Indians, Filipino, and Malaysians. However, mainstream consumers are also discovering that long beans can easily substitute for green beans and long beans are actually better for stir fry recipes. There are three different types of long beans: Surinam, green, and white. The Surinam variety is shipped in 30 pound boxes while 35 pound boxes are used for the green and white varieties.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture funded Exporting Quality program is helping exporters such as Angelica design a new air freight box that takes into account the high respiration rates of long beans to ensure proper ventilation and shelf life.
For more information:
Angelica Silva
V&D Agropecuaria
Tel: +1 809 754-4321
vdagropecuaria@hotmail.com