Sweetening the deal: Suppliers look to Peru to keep sweet onions coming

Sweetening the deal: Suppliers look to Peru to keep sweet onions coming

The emergence of Peru as a source of sweet onions has helped to turn a product that once was seasonal into a year-round sales winner, growers and shippers say.

"Peru plays a very important role in the U.S. sweet onion industry, and our year-round RealSweet sweet onion program," said John Shuman, president/sales director of Reidsville, Ga.-based Shuman Produce Inc.

Peru's harvest window is the opposite Georgia's, so its production fits well into programs in the Vidalia district, Shuman said.

More importantly, the Peruvian deal serves as a crucial supplier of a product that is growing in popularity, Shuman said.

"With the growth of the sweet onion category, the Peruvian market ensures a quality product all year long," he said. "The Peruvian onion deal stems from strong consumer demand for premium sweet onions during fall and winter months following Vidalia onion season.

Shuman said more than 5,000 truckloads of Peruvian sweet onions were shipped to the U.S. last year.

Peruvian sweets are not Vidalias, but they are "the closest thing," due to similar sizes, shapes, colors and flavors, Shuman said.

The Peru deal can keep up with growing consumer demand for sweet onions, said Marty Kamer, president of Greencastle, Pa.-based Keystone Fruit Marketing Inc.

"This demand has been fueled by increased consumer awareness and growing popularity of sweet onions," he said.

Kamer supply of sweet onions had lagged demand before the Peruvian deal took hold..

"Today, a reliable steady supply of year round authentic sweet onions is available to meet increasing demand," he said.

The growth trend should continue, said Nelly Yunta, vice president of customized brokers with Jacksonville, Fla.-based Crowley Maritime Corp.

"Good quality combined with supply are providing a good market opportunity for Peru," she said.

The Grant, Fla.-based Sweet Onions Trading Corp. is making the most of its opportunity in Peru, said Barry Rogers, president.

"We brought in 5 million Peru onions last year; it wasn't our biggest year, but it certainly was second," he said.

He said Peru is "the right place" to grow sweet onions.

"A desert climate is where they originated; it's a good crop for them," Rogers said, noting that yields in Peru are better than in Vidalia.

"The closer you get to that climate, the better you can grow that onion," Rogers said. "Ideally, that granex winter onion is suited to a desert."

Rogers also noted Peru has become two distinct seasons and produces two different onions.

"Early is granex and late is what's called an intermediate round onion that did very well and was very sweet," Rogers said. "That was able to extend fresh season from December to March with good quality onions."

Glennville, Ga.-based Blank Farms LLC shipped nearly half of the 3,000 containers of Peruvian onions sent to the U.S. last year, said Delbert Bland, owner.

"It's the identical seed we use in Vidalia; it tastes almost identical and the quality is very good," he said.

As of Aug. 24, more than 200 containers of onions had been shipped from Peru to the U.S., Bland said

"I'd bet we shipped 115, according to a report I saw yesterday," he said. "We do a lot of volume there because we do a lot in Vidalia and we have a customer base want to keep supplied and Peru is the perfect way to do it."

Keeping a steady supply of sweet onions is crucial for retail customers, said John Williams, sales director with Lyons, Ga.-based L.G. Herndon Jr. Farms Inc.

"It allows us to stay in contact with our customers year-round; we don't have to miss a beat or put that relationship on hiatus for six months and try to pick it back up," he said.

Mark Brimeister, sales director with Savannah, Ga.-based Triple A Produce and Oso Sweet Onion Co., summed up Peru's role this way:

"If you're in the U.S., the roughly six-month period from August to March, it's the backbone of the sweet onion business," he said.

 

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