On January 19, the US market reopened for Spanish peppers, specifically for those produced in Almería, which will have an open export window from December 1 to March 31. Almería peppers thus regain a market they lost at the end of December 2022, when the United States Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) closed its doors due to various detections of Mediterranean fruit fly (Ceratitis capitata).
"Today we are arranging the first batches for air shipment to the United States," says an excited José Antonio Baños, president of Ejidomar. "We have finally recovered this destination, to which we had been exporting for years." The cooperative, located in the municipality of El Ejido, is one of the five Almerian companies registered to export peppers to the North American country this season. The others are Agroiris, Freshcover, Frutas el Monarca and ZOI Agrícola.
These companies have set up more than 2,000 fruit fly traps to ensure the peppers to be shipped remain free from this pest. "We assumed some risks and made some investments before we knew for sure whether exports would finally be resumed or not, and we had several inspections on top of that. We are happy that this has allowed the reopening of the US market this campaign and for the future," says the president of Ejidomar.
While Almería is not shipping large volumes of peppers to this destination (about 1.5 billion kilos, according to Coexphal), the United States still offers valuable opportunities to exporters. "It is another open door for our production, which can only be a positive development. This market's quality requirements are possibly the strictest I know. Only the highest quality can be shipped there," says José Antonio Baños.
Peppers are widely grown in the United States, although their production is mainly concentrated in California and Florida. Georgia and New Jersey supplement the supply with some slightly lower volumes. However, to meet the constant market demand, the United States is importing more each year, especially from Mexico and Canada, while on the other hand, its exports have decreased.
"Our peppers will mostly go to the east coast of the United States, where they will be sold as premium products, with a clear differentiation from the peppers imported from Mexico, of a more standard quality," he says. With a production of around 20 million kilos of peppers per year, Ejidomar is one of Almeria's largest producers.
For more information:
José Antonio Baños
Ejidomar
Carretera de Almerimar km 1
04700 El Ejido, Almería, Spain
Tel.: +34 950 48 35 11
ejidomar@ejidomar.es
www.ejidomar.es/