SANTA PAULA, CA - Calavo Grower’s shipping capacity for avocados from Mexico is scheduled to grow by 70,000 square feet by mid-summer.
The company announced plans to build a packing house in Ciudad Guzmán, Jalisco, about 85 miles south of Guadalajara, according to a press release.
“We expect that expanding operations into a second growing region—vastly increasing Calavo’s packing capacity—enables us to build upon and extend our fresh avocado market leadership,” Lee E. Cole, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Calavo, said in the release. “With domestic avocado consumption expected to exceed two billion pounds this year, the new packing operations in Guzmán are essential to remaining on the forward edge of industry growth and building upon our unrivalled market-leadership position. Beyond this steady rise in U.S. avocado consumption, emerging international markets such as China, other parts of the Asia-Pacific region and Europe, point to the exceptional opportunity in being an early entrant in Ciudad Guzmán, just as Calavo was in Uruapan in the late 1990s.”
Cole is referring to the operations Calavo already has in Uruapan, Michoacán, which the company believes this new location will greatly assist in exporting fresh avocados to the U.S. and international locations.
The new facility is being built on land that provides plenty of room for future growth and is expected to begin operating as early as July. According to the company, its existing business connections in Michoacán already have avocado groves in Jalisco as well, which Cole stated gave the company a “significant competitive advantage.”
As the company is confident the investment will turn into revenue in the new location, Cole stated Calavo will share more about its progress as the fiscal year continues.
