With 90% of production for Sutherland Produce being exported out of North America, the company will continue the expansion of its network of growers in 2016 with production in California set to start by mid-April of this year, Tasmanian production started a month ago and the company is also getting cherries and grapes out of Australia. Blueberries, apples and cherries are a majority of what the company exports from Canada. The company currently operates in 7 countries and exports to more than 30.
According to Rick Chong, Director of Sales for Sutherland SA Produce, "The technical expertise that we have had to learn as growers and packers to export around the world has led to us doubling our knowledge in the last 5 years in terms of technology. You have to spend millions of dollars nowadays to get up to the Global Gap standards that everyone around the world is expecting us to deliver. It has been a real learning experience for us."
“We find that our clients prefer one stop shopping, and they really trust us since we are on the ground in the orchard looking at the fruit, we are on the packing lines and handle all of the logistics around the world, so they call us on the phone and say ‘Ok Rick, you know what I want, if it is good, go ahead and send it’. It works really well for us, instead of dealing with eight different companies they can work with one or two and get exactly what they want." said Rick.
Offering fruit to markets all over the world means that some varieties go only to certain markets. For example, cherries are pressure tested for firmness. China likes a cherry that is as firm as an apple, Europe likes cherries that are darker and sweeter, so medium fruit is sent to that market, and the North American market prefers a little less firm. Cherry varieties such as Staccato or Sentennial are well suited for China, and Rick said that they are so firm that you can almost hear a crunch when you bite into them.
“We offer cherries 9-10 months of the year. We have our own company orchards in Chile, Washington State and Canada and then we also represent growers in California, Washington, Spain and Tasmania.”
"Cherries to Asia are exported in 5 and 2 kilo boxes, the bigger boxes used for the North American market tend to crush the cherries on the bottom. The packaging costs are relatively the same, but they arrive in better condition with the smaller weight. So we can probably get over a 70% premium, over North American prices, to the grower."
The company is now going into the direction of specialty packaging for the Asian market for both cherries and blueberries. The company, together with packers, have spent over $4 million just upgrading the line equipment to get the quality that China wants. Rick believes that this is a long term investment and said that, the company would likely spend another few million in the next 2 or 3 years to complete the project and become world class.
