Top Trade Trends
While there’s certainly plenty of the same-old, same-old in Nogales, buyers and sellers have noted some peaks and troughs in supply as well as budding trends and off-kilter developments.
One thing they can all agree on is the fluidity of change. “Our industry is constantly changing,” states Suarez. More importantly, however, is how to survive and thrive amidst the change. If Nogales businesses want to remain competitive, Suarez believes it is crucial to stay on top of the latest trends and not fall behind. “We all keep looking for better varieties of products to grow,” he says, “it’s very important to have good yields per acre.”
Price, too, is a significant factor. “Agriculture has become so efficient with all the new technological advances that business these days is more about achieving a good price for our product,” explains Suarez. “Many years ago, there were more windows of opportunity when prices used to go sky high for longer periods of time. I think nowadays we still see those high prices, but for shorter periods of time.”
Hot & Trending
Everybody knows about kale and its emergence as a superfood, but other fruits, vegetables, and herbs are enjoying more consumption as well. Bell peppers, blueberries, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, celery, chile peppers, citrus, mangos, squash, and watermelon were among the winners this year, along with specialty and organic produce, garlic, and more greenhouse-grown vegetables.
“Watermelon continues to grow in popularity as evidenced by the increase in importation in recent years,” comments Jungmeyer, referring to upticks that began a few seasons ago. In the 2014-15 season, more than 1.1 billion pounds of watermelon was shipped through Nogales as compared to less than 906 million pounds during the previous year from 2012 to 2013.
Nogales importers are also seeing green related to squash sales. At the end of the summer, both spaghetti and butternut hard squash had experienced gains for Ciruli Brothers. “Demand for these items used to take a dip in warmer months, but this year we saw more demand for those particular varieties,” says Ciruli.
The increase, Ciruli surmises, could be due to consumer dietary changes, such as the skyrocketing popularity of Paleo and vegan-type diets. More than 622 million pounds of squash moved through Nogales in the 2014-15 season, with forecasts for higher numbers in 2015-16 shipments.
For Duarte, mangos were a top seller with rising demand. Though the season ended in October, it was worth mentioning. “We’ve seen quite a bit of an increase on our mango sales,” Duarte shares. “More than anything, we attribute it to the National Mango Board. They’ve been promoting the product a lot and offering different types of recipes and displays in stores.”
