Mexico’s appearance at Fruit Logistica was dominated by the new EurepGAP quality standard, according to Patricia Moreno of the Mexican Ministry of Agriculture.
At present just three Mexican growers hold this certificate. The Citricola company, a supplier of limes, has been certificated since December 2003 and already exports 5,800 tonnes of fruit, grown on an area of 1,200 hectares, to Europe.
EurepGAP requires that manager Carlos Couturier Gaya submits daily reports. Only two per cent of his exports are to Germany, and he was using Fruit Logistica to establish contacts with German wholesalers. This was also one of the main aims of Asociación Productores Uva de Mesa. Based in the state of Sonora, the 60 grape growers expect to be harvesting 193.5t annually by 2005, making them the first fully qualified representatives of the fruit sector in Mexico, according to César Salazar Platt.
The association’s director has been sounding out the German market since 2001. “Golden Perlette” - larger and sweeter than the grapes that are usually available in this country, are already proving very popular with German consumers. “A strong euro and 80m Germans are ideal prerequisites for us,” said Platt.
