Wonderful Citrus has regular shipments to Europe of three citrus varieties:
- Mexican limes,
- Texas deep red grapefruit. and
- California minneola tangelos.
“We are the largest grower of minneolas in California and we have been supplying the Dutch market for nearly 10 years,” said Scott Owens, VP sales and marketing.
Most minneolas are consumed in Holland rather than being re-exported.
“Both Mexican limes and Texas deep red grapefruit are relatively new to our citrus portfolio but we believe we can find success in Europe. In 2015 we began trial shipments of Mexican limes to understand the market requirements and prepare for future increases in our production base. We have been sending small volumes of our deep red Texas grapefruit to Europe for several years in order to expose customers to the merits of Texas grapefruit.”
Texas indeed produces a sub-tropical grapefruit similar to Florida, not as pretty on the outside but with excellent internal characteristics. More than 30 years ago Texas had a good following in Europe but was replaced by Florida. As the Florida industry continues to decline due to serious pest/disease pressure, Wonderful Citrus hopes to expand the presence of Texas in Europe.