For Freshway Produce, the rambutan import season is wrapping up next week, which is earlier than expected. “Our growers are reporting that our sourcing region in Honduras didn't have any rain for two weeks early November. During that time, temperatures were high," says Jose Roggiero, Freshway Produce's CEO. “Those temperatures stressed the trees and accelerated the ripening of the fruit,” he added.
Jose Roggiero says that production had been expected to run until early to mid-January.
That said, this is a longer run for Honduran rambutan than last year when the season ended in early November. “That was because there were very heavy rains that affected the flowers and those flowers ended up dropping or not becoming fruit so the yields were very minimal,” says Roggiero.
Other sourcing regions
The season out of Honduras began in October. Before that, the season had been running out of Guatemala since May. “This year's production from Guatemala was amazing and there were good supplies all the way to October,” says Roggiero, adding that air freight space, which was a challenge last year, improved this year as have the logistics. “The quality was very good. The sizing, the sweetness and the color of the fruit were all very good.”
Roggiero says that consumers are starting to see rambutan as more of a mainstream fruit.
As for demand, it remains consistent and consumers continue to learn about the fruit via avenues such as social media. “We are also seeing that consumers are seeing this fruit more and more as a mainstream fruit rather than an exotic, unknown fruit,” says Roggiero, who also ships largely via programs which mean pricing has stayed consistent.
He also says that Freshway tries to focus on making eating rambutan a great eating experience which in turn helps demand. “Most of the fruit is air flown which makes it almost tree-ripe quality. We hope that consumers continue supporting this type of program because it brings a good name to the exotic fruit category,” he adds.
For more information:
Jose Roggiero
Freshway Produce Inc.
[email protected]
www.freshwayusa.com