By Fresh Produce Association of the Americas
Nogales, AZ — With the heart of the 2013-14 Mexican produce season coming to a close, the numbers are in, and they show that Nogales is widening its lead over South Texas.
For the season beginning in September of 2013, and through April of 2014, about 37% of the Mexican fresh fruits and vegetables that were consumed in North America crossed through Nogales. This compares to about 28% of total volume for the crossing region in South Texas, comprised of Pharr and Progresso, Texas.
The 2013 crossing report information, gathered from the USDA website, reflects that Nogales enjoyed a dramatic 17% increase over the prior season versus other ports that have remained flat or realized much smaller increases. This is due to several factors, including improvements at the new Mariposa Port of Entry in Nogales, which are decreasing the amount of time a truck waits in line at the border.
For instance, the revamped Mariposa Port of Entry has doubled the number of commercial crossing lanes. To add to the processing efficiency, as part of the 2014 Omnibus Spending Bill, Nogales will be receiving 120 additional Customs Officers to facilitate trade at the expanded port. The Arizona Department of Transportation has also made significant improvements on the road leading into the U.S. from the port, including widening and adding additional lanes for vehicles to access I-19.
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Mexician produce is causing a flood of volume crossing the U.S. border. In fact it is so much product, combined with lousy winter weather spanning much of the US, it is killing demand (in other words consumers aren’t buying as much and retailers aren’t ordering as much).
A main concern in this situation is some shippers will do just about anything to sell their product before it rots. That can mean rolling loads of produce unsold — in other words on consignment. This too often results produce truckers having to change destinations, facing more drops than originally told, etc.
This makes it especially important you are dealing with good, honest shippers, truck brokers, receivers – to make sure you are getting fairly compensated for any additional mileage, drops, etc.
West Mexico vegetables came on strong in February as delayed volumes of tomatoes, bell peppers and cucumbers finally started crossing at Nogales, AZ and in South Texas. Shippers, meanwhile, were facing poor demand thanks to a series of winter storms in the Midwest and Northeast.
One example is peak supplies of romas are now hitting Nogales three weeks later than normal.
After a lot of cold weather, replantings, etc, the warm weather in Mexico is resulting in big volumes. However, the crappy wether continues in much of the US.
As spring approaches there also big volume with eggplant, vine ripe tomatoes, bell peppers and cucumbers. This situation is expected to continue for at least another two months.
Mexican produce crossing the border at Nogales – grossing about $3600 to Chicago.
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After several delays, the Autopista Durango-Mazatlan highway, a 143-mile road from the growing regions of west Mexico to Texas ports of entry, now is expected to open sometime during the first half of 2014.
If you haul produce out of South Texas, this is significant.
It is open, but there are still sections of the road that are not 100 percent complete.
The route’s 1,280-foot-high Baluarte Bridge already has been completed. It is the highest bridge in North America and the highest cable-stayed bridge in the world, according to the website highestbridges.com.
There is no need for trucks to travel up and down the mountain, because they bridges allows the 18 wheelers to go through the mountain.
The highway between Durango and the coastal city of Mazatlan has 61 tunnels and seven bridges that exceed 300 feet in height.
Nearly two-thirds of the produce Texas ships to the rest of the country comes from Mexico.
That only will increase when the new road opens, allowing Mexican growers to easily move product from growing areas in west Mexico to the eastern part of the country in an efficient manner.
Historically it has been impossible to do this because of the mountain ranges. However, the new road system flattens out the trip and making it entirely feasible for big rigs.
The shortcut should allow Mexican shippers and U.S. importers to save $2,000 when they ship a load east of the Rockies through Texas rather than Arizona or California.
Besides importing Mexican product, shippers may bring in Asian products shipped to deep water ports in west Mexico. This would allow importers to avoid Southern California’s Long Beach-Los Angeles harbor area, which is expensive and frustrating.
Completion of the road could boost south Texas to become the business port of entry for produce. Traditionally, Nogales, Ariz., has held the number one spot.
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Tropical storm Manuel hit Western Mexico the week of September 15th, killing dozens and bringing extensive damage to growing areas around Culiacan, a major growing area for tomatoes, squash and many other produce commodities shipped to the USA during the late fall, winter and early spring seasons.
More than 350,000 acres of crops were damaged by the storm, mostly due to heavy rains ranging from around eight inches to 15 inches.
This is expected to hurt loading opportunities for Thanksgiving green beans and other products in the Los Mochis area of northern Sonora. Some loadings that would have started in early November will not be ready until late November. Squash, cucumbers and eggplant were among the crops most heavily affected.
A majority of these Mexician produce items cross the border at Nogales, AZ.
Salinas Valley Vegetable Shipments
Moderate amounts of vegetables continue to be shipped from California’s Salinas Valley, led by head lettuce, romaine lettuce, then celery, broccoli and cauliflower. These items also are being shipped in smaller volumes from the Santa Maria district to the south of Salinas.
Moderate shipments of strawberries also continue from the Watsonsville district, as well as from Santa Maria.
Salinas Valley vegetables and berries – grossing about $7400 to New York City.
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After the interstate highway system was born in the 1950s under the 
Eisenhower Administration, it allowed the United States to explode in economic power because of its vast coast-to-coast infrastructure in the ensuing decades.
Although it will be on a much smaller scale, we’re going to see something similar with Mexican produce and other goods coming into the United States.
By the end of 2012, a 143-mile cross-continental highway known as the Autopista Durango-Mazatlan is scheduled for completion. It will reduce travel time from West Mexican growing regions to ports in Texas, including McAllen/Pharr. This will provide easier, faster access of Mexican products to the eastern half of the United States.
Meanwhile, over $200 million is being invested in expanding the Mariposa Land Port of Entry at Nogales, AZ. It has a projected completion in 2014.
Another reason I see increasing produce volume to the U.S. from Mexico is because many of the growing operations south of the border are financially backed and/or owned by U.S. produce growing/shipping operations. Cheaper labor costs also factor into this growth.
This should result in more loading opportunites for American produce haulers in the coming years. The unanswered question a this time, is how much of this produce in the future will be delivered by Mexican trucking operations since restrictions on border crossings, and Mexican truckers operating in the U.S., have been loosened.
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