According to Anneberies, the Mexican organisation of berry export, the export of fruit could generate as many as 200,000 jobs. “If the sector does what it’s doing, and nothing unusual happens, we should be looking at an employment capacity of some 200,000 jobs in a few years,” says chairman Mario Esteta Gándara.
Gándara believes the sector has some positive features, like a rapidly expanding market, and thinks the export has enormous potential. He likes to compare the berry industry to the tomato sector: the current trade barrier between Mexico and the US could actually be beneficent to the berry export, as the tomatoes could be substituted for small fruit.
One condition for a successful future is the continued search for foreign markets. Right now, he says, almost the entire yield goes to Canada and the US, but Mexico should not be afraid to look elsewhere. “I’m thinking Europe, Japan and China.”
According to the chairman, the sector needs to rethink its position, and be ready to renegotiate prices.
