US importer-distributor HLB Specialties has added Guatemalan rambutan to its growing offer of tropical and exotic fruit procurement items.
The Florida-based company, which is best known for its Brazilian papaya sourcing deal with Caliman Agrícola, started distributing rambutan this week to a major health store in the US.
“We will do tastings (demonstrations) in several `US` stores to introduce the fruit `to the market`,” HLB’s Melissa Hartman de Barros told Americafruit.
“Last weekend we also promoted rambutans at a local soccer game in Miami that featured the Argentinean player Lionel Messi of FC Barcelona.
“Rambutan is a tropical fruit similar to the lychee. It’s red spikes look like hairs and it carries the nickname “messy hair” in Vietnam.
“Once we mentioned this moniker to the young soccer fans who were there to see their idol Messi, it was an easy “sell” and they tried the fruit without hesitation and even asked for more.”
Apart from rambutan, HLB Specialities is also developing its sourcing programmes for mangoes and avocados.
The group will also look to re-develop its Golden Brazilian papaya programme once volume bounces back in the second half of 2012 following the heavy rains at the end of last year.
The full report will be published in the August/September issue of Americafruit Magazine.
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