Up until the end of 2016, plantain producers in the region of Chiapas in Soconusco that wanted to export their products had to transport their fruit to the Guatemalan ports of Barrios (585 km from Tapachula, on the Atlantic coast) and Quetzal (275 km, on the Pacific coast).
The shipping company of the American giant Chiquita, Great White Fleet, made its first stop in the Port of Chiapas in the second week of January.
Edgar Reyes, the director of the Port Authority of the Port of Chiapas, spoke about the advantages of the new service in a telephone interview: "The bananas reach the port's courtyard and begin the cooling process the same day that they are cut. Previously they had to cross the border with Guatemala and travel hundreds of kilometers to reach the respective ports. Now, the farthest production farm is 80 km away from the port."
According to Reyes, since the time between being harvested and being shipped is much shorter, the plantain from Chiapas will be more competitive in the international market, thanks to its price, freshness, and availability.
Plantain all year round
Unlike other crops, the plantain is a product with a very low seasonality. According to data from the Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food (SAGARPA), the monthly percentage of the annual national production fluctuates between 6.8% and 10.1%. This means that, from a logistical perspective, it is a very attractive product because it involves movement throughout the year.
"I understand that the contract between the transnational and the producers is for ten years, with stops in the 52 weeks of the year. This puts us in a very interesting position to move the country's refrigerated cargo," said Edgar Reyes.
The director of the port said that they still hadn't materialized alternating loads but that he hoped they would achieve them soon: "The Port of Hueneme is not as well known as those of Long Beach and Tacoma, but it is conveniently located in the center of the California coast. In addition, the shipping company is open to carrying other cargo that is not plantain."
The sales team of the Port of Chiapas is already talking to producers of papaya, mango, rambutan and dry goods, such as coffee, that may be interested in shipping their products to California.
Although the Port of Chiapas is already part of the weekly service between Central America and the United States, the Mexican port still doesn't appear on the itineraries on the shipping company's website. Up to the publication of this note, Great White Fleet had not replied to TheInsight.mx's requests for further information on the new stop at the Port of Chiapas.
In a written questionnaire, Eduardo Salvador, the manager of the Agricultural Association of Plantain Producers of Soconusco, said that Chiquita's weekly service was a joint initiative of the producers and the shipping company. It took more than five years to consolidate the project.
Chiapas producers estimate that this new export scheme will allow their fresh fruit to arrive to the target markets seven days faster than before.
When asked if the 10-year term was common for this type of practice, Eduardo Salvador said that it was standard practice, "because of the importance and magnitude of the project and so that the actors involved have enough time to achieve a return on their investment, for the project's development and so that the producing area consolidates."
Mexican plantain: 2015 figures
According to the 2016 edition of SAGARPA's Agricultural Food Atlas, 5,000 Mexican farmers harvested 2.1 million tons of plantains in 2015. The states with the biggest productions were Chiapas (31% of total), Tabasco (26%), and Veracruz (14%).
A fifth of the production (21%) is exported. The United States was the largest buyer of Mexican plantains, accounting for more than 75% of exports, followed by Spain, and the Netherlands. In just five years, the value of Mexican plantain exports has tripled: from 62 million in 2011, to 181 million in 2015.
In search of new markets, Mexican producers have their eyes set on China, where they shipped two containers of plantains from Michoacan as a test run this year. Sagarpa is working with Chinese authorities to close the corresponding phytosanitary protocol.
Mexico is the 12th biggest producer of plantains in the world as it produces 2.1 million tons of plantain per year, which accounts for 2% of the world's production. India is the largest producer of plantains in the world, as it produces 27.5 million tons of plantains per year, equivalent to a quarter of the world's production.
However, in the statistics for 2015 developed by worldstopexports.com, India ranked 20th (according to the total value of their exports). In this list, Mexico ranked 17th, with 1.7% of the total value of plantain exports, while Ecuador ranked 1st with 26.5% of the total export value.
How much, where to, and how are the three biggest producing regions exporting?
Since the Port of Chiapas exports 250 containers of plantains from the producers of the Soconusco region each week, it will become the Mexican port that exports the most plantains nationwide.
In a telephone interview, Adrian Prats, president of the National Plantain Producers Council and leader of the producers from Tabasco, said that the Port of Veracruz was currently exporting about 150 refrigerated containers of plantains per week.
In the short term, Prats said, it's very unlikely that ships with refrigerated warehouses for the bulk transport of plantains will stop again at the port of Dos Bocas in Tabasco, as they did several times a year until 2013.
Producers from Tabasco are working with major European importers to coordinate their shipments of refrigerated containers and so that the ships passing through the Port of Veracruz can make a stop in Dos Bocas. This scheme would represent a considerable saving in time and costs compared to moving the plantain 540 km by land to the main port of Veracruz.
80% of the region's exports are shipped on regular services between Veracruz and Europe. The remainder goes to the United States (a part by land) and Asia.
According to data provided by Marco Antonio Magaña, the manager of the Regional Union of Plantain Producers of the Pacific Center, which brings together producers of Colima, Jalisco and Michoacan, an average of nearly 60 refrigerated containers are exported through the Port of Manzanillo every week. 73% of them are sent to the US, 19% to Europe (Spain, France, England and Italy) and 8% to Asia (Japan).
Source: theinsight.mx