When fresh produce packaging specialist Sirane opened a new factory in Guadalajara at the start of 2016, a few eyebrows were raised. However, Simon Balderson, managing director of the company, has the answers.
“People often ask us “Why Mexico?” Well Mexico is the perfect place for Sirane to begin manufacturing. Certainly in soft fruit terms, it is one of the world’s major producers,” he explains.
While the facility is in the heart of the Mexican berry growing region, geographically it is also quite a distance from many of its major markets. “This means that shelf-life matters to the Mexican growers, and they understand its importance,” Balderson continues. “They are very experienced and highly educated in this area, so it fits perfectly for us. The Mexican fruit export market has grown significantly in recent years following investment.”
Initially the factory will manufacture absorbent fruit pads. Balderson says the company has invested a lot of time in recent years on shelf-life extension for fruit and vegetables, and now has some very effective products. “Everything fits together perfectly. I’ve visited the region myself, and found the growers to be very receptive to new technology, and keen to get involved. They are seriously excited by what we’re offering.”
Sirane Mexico became fully operational in summer 2016, with machinery for the facility put together at the company’s headquarter in Telford, UK, before being sent across the Atlantic and installed in the factory. By opening a manufacturing base in Mexico, Sirane will be able to offer better service and better technology to the region while also gaining from the knowledge and expertise of the local industry. Improved transport links will also connect the group with crucial markets in Central and North America.
“The Guadalajara location is perfect, near the major growing regions and so close to customers, and of course on a new innovation park with easy access to the Pan-American Highway – meaning it is well connected by road to much of North and Central America,” Balderson explains. “We’ll also be able to supply into South America, and in particular the berry markets in Chile and Uruguay. Being based in Mexico will make serving these markets much easier.”
The Mexican berry industry is one of the largest in the world, and it continues to grow, with its temperature, altitude and rainfall making growing conditions ideal. Vast quantities of soft fruit including strawberries, blackberries, raspberries and blueberries are exported to Europe, North America and the Far East, making packaging vitally important. For example, some 97 per cent of blueberries grown in the country are sent to export markets, with Mexico recently exporting them to the vast Chinese market for the first time. In addition, other regions of North, Central and South America are significant exporters of fruit, so Sirane Mexico will be in an ideal location to supply packaging across the entire region – driven by a worldwide demand for berries that lasts 365 days a year.
In the US, meanwhile, around 563.2m lbs of cultivated blueberries were produced in 2014, but due to year-round demand the country still imported 234.7m lbs at a cost of US$530.5m, 60 per cent of which came from Chile. With 355.9m lbs of strawberries imported – 99.7 per cent coming from Mexico – and more than US$1m-worth of raspberries, the scale of the industry in the Americas is clear – and this is before you even count exports leaving the continent.
Sirane’s range
The packaging specialist offers a range of absorbent pads for fruit, including standard absorbency, absorbent ‘cushioned’ soft-hold bubble pads, and the recently launched Dri-Fresh abv anti-microbial pads, which contain a blend of natural bio-flavonoids and organic acids that naturally enhance the fruit’s own protective defences. The group also offers pads with ethylene absorbency incorporated. abv technology can be supplied as standard absorbent pads or incorporated into Sirane’s Dri-Fresh Soft-Hold pads – absorbent cushioned pads that prevent damage to berries during transportation. The technology is activated by moisture, so it only functions when it is needed.
Fruits that would potentially benefit from Dri-Fresh abv or Dri-Fresh Soft-Hold include all types of berries, as well as other fresh produce vulnerable to damage such as tomatoes – another product produced in vast quantities in Mexico – apricots, nectarines, kiwifruit and table grapes. Indeed, Sirane’s Dri-Fresh Soft Hold cushioned pads are already being shipped in large quantities to berry producers across North and Central America and Chile – some of the biggest soft fruit growing regions globally – with the products starting to appear on supermarket shelves worldwide, including in the UK. All of these products will be manufactured at the new 1,500m2 unit in Guadalajara, in an innovation park where there is scope to expand the site as the Mexican business grows.
“Sirane Mexico will provide jobs in the region for engineers, scientists and in manufacturing,” confirms Balderson. “We have had great help from ProMexico in the UK, as well as the Mexican government and the local official sin the Jalisco region. We realised some time ago that the service this market needed was local manufacturing. The market is vast, and the intention is for Sirane Mexico to grow with it. Long-term, Sirane Mexico should lead the way in terms of product development for this sector. We will be opening a fruit-based research and development department in the region alongside the manufacturing operation.
“Sirane Mexico is a significant step forward for our company,” Balderson concludes. “We’ve been encouraged every step of the way by people within the Mexican fruit industry and by government officials, and we’re now looking forward to the day the factory opens for business and begins production.”
