Jalisco berries

China will have its first taste of Mexican raspberries and blackberries once shipments from the states of Jalisco and Michoacankick off on 27 January.

Aneberries secretary Mario Steta told Fruitnetthat trial shipments would be sent Wednesday to test the protocol requirements, with commercial shipments to start next Tuesday, 27 January with a ceremony at Guadalajara airport to send off potential shipments to China and Hong Kong.

“After this first shipment, regular shipments will be taking place until our production season finished sometime in May,” Steta said. “As with any new process of this nature, it is hard to say how volumes will evolve.”

Aneberries president Mario AndradeCárdenastold Mexican news site El Informador that shipments of blackberries and raspberries to China have to potential to bring in up to US$100m in the coming five years.

“The quantities [that we will export] have yet to be determined as it’s a very perishable product, with orders taken a day or two before and fortunately, demand has been more than we were hoping for, so although we still don’t know what quantity of cartons or tonnes we will send, I believe that we will a volume substantially higher than we had thought,” AndradeCárdenassaid.

Mexico’s Senasica has registered 504 hectares of blackberries and 150 hectares of raspberries in Michoacan for export to China, while in Jalisco, Sagarpa has registered 58 hectares of blackberries and 427 hectares of raspberries.

Importers in Chinaare optimistic that the new products will sit well with Chinese consumers, particularly in the lead up to Chinese New Year, which falls on 19 February this year.

“The demand for berries in China is huge due to the high nutrients that these fruits contain,” Freya Tang from Shanghai-based Mexico Food Connection explained. “We are sure that once the berries arrive to the Chinese market, we will have a lot of consumers. We are expecting some shipments to arrive in Shanghai and Guangzhou before Chinese New Year, but the volume has not been confirmed yet. The idea is to start slow, so that we can offer good quality products – as the first impression is never forgotten.”

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