Importer-exporter banking on Ecuadorian tropicals
Houston-based import and exporter dVida Co. plans to share the latest fresh, frozen, dehydrated tropical fruits and vegetables from Ecuador with fresh produce professionals this October at the International Fresh Produce Association Global Produce & Floral Show in Anaheim, Calif., according to a news release.
A family-owned business and woman-owned company, dVida brings 15 years’ experience providing agricultural inspections and sourcing to clients with quality products that ensure cold chain integrity from the origin to final destination, the release said.
“Unique attributes of our Ecuadorian year-round fruit deal are our focus on quality, speed, and consistency. We have complete control and management of the production, packaging and streamlining logistics to assure product shelf life for our customers,” Annabell Vidal, dVida’s CEO, said in the release.
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Additionally, dVida sources tropical fruits and vegetables from Colombia, Peru, Brazil and Mexico to ensure year-round supply for clients.
“The vast distinction of Ecuadorian agriculture, other than its capability to year-round production, is variety,” Vidal said. “A variety of fresh tropical fruit and vegetable sizes are grown as a result of our lush rainforest and humid subtropical climate. These varying sizes meet commodity requirements that are earmarked for markets requiring size specifications and uses.”
Tropical fruit is dVida’s focus, which includes a specialty in mangoes. Ecuador ranks as third-largest mango importing country to the U.S., and dVida is currently on schedule to ship over 2 million pounds of mango this year, the release said.
“Among our diversified product offerings, our specialty is mangoes,” Vidal said in the release. “Mangoes are an increasingly high demand fruit among U.S. retailers and we have seen a driving demand from clients due to the increased per capita consumption of mango amongst U.S. consumers.”
Added to this, dragon fruit is an up-and-coming fruit that is gaining recognition with U.S. consumers and dVida has been able to add both yellow and red dragon fruit to its product list, the release said.
“Ecuador has become the number one producer of dragon fruit in South America and is ranked eighth in dragon fruit exportation worldwide. The quality of the Ecuadorian dragon fruit has been recognized in regions like Europe, Asia, and North America,” Vidal said in the release.