The Culiacan tomato deal is winding down this May and Tony Incaviglia, vice president of sales and marketing for the McAllen, TX, grower-shipper GR Fresh, is looking forward to the seasonal new deal beginning in Torreon, Coahuila.
The Culiacan deal will be forgettable. It started with foul weather there in December. Matters turned worse with more rain and cold temperatures in later winter weeks. Then there were events beyond the field — COVID-19.
“Quality was interrupted a little,” Incaviglia said on May 5. “Rounds and Romas in general were affected.” Even this spring effects of the bad Culiacan weather were revealing themselves.
Later production in Torreon is rooted in much better growing conditions. This coming season, which begins in early June, “should be much more positive,” Incaviglia said.
Of course, this season’s weather is only one part of the challenge for Mexican tomato shippers.
Incaviglia said the coronavirus pandemic initially ended 100 percent of his firm’s foodservice sales. By early May, those sales had rebounded to about 25 percent of normal. Further resumption of foodservice sales will depend upon individual governors’ decisions concerning the reopening of state economies, including restaurants.
“I hope for gradual improvement. Maybe later this year we’ll get back to where we were before the 2019 holidays. That will depend on the governors,” he said.
“Demand is OK from retail buyers, but we’re not rocking and rolling like we were several months ago. I hope for gradual improvement.”
Yet another very significant challenge facing the entire Mexican tomato export industry was the implementation of extensive USDA quality inspections at entry points. These inspections were enforced upon Mexican tomato importers in early April because of the Tomato Suspension Agreement.
Incaviglia said the potential border congestion was reduced because tomato production was only about 50 percent of normal due to unrelated weather problems. “So, the impact of inspections was not too bad. Now we’re on the downslope of southern region production.”
Looking at this tomato season as a whole, Incaviglia noted: “Unprecedented is over-used as a description, but this year, it’s true.”
This summer, GR Fresh will be growing and distributing Roma and grape tomatoes, green and red Bell peppers, eggplant, cucumbers, avocados and carrots, as well as Western vegetables.
The avocado and carrot deals are new for the firm. “The avocado program has a good start compared to the roller coaster we’ve had on other items for the last four or five months,” he said.
Amid a season of curve balls, construction of a new GR Fresh cold storage and office complex in south Texas has progressed on schedule. The firm hopes to relocate in December or about Jan. 1. The more than 50,000-square-foot warehouse will include a 6,000-square-foot repack facility.
