Potato Exports to Mexico & Japan Pt 1
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson. The U.S. potato industry is working hard to expand their export markets in Mexico and Japan, but it’s not easy.
Matt Lantz, Vice President of Global Access at Bryant Christie, says getting potatoes into Mexico has been a real challenge …
LANTZ … “I would say Mexico is one of the toughest negotiations that the U.S. potato industry has ever had to deal with, and it continues to be something that we treat with great respect.”
A respect, Lantz says that is paying off …
LANTZ … “We’ve made tremendous progress in the last two years, but we also really have to respect where it is. We’re very careful about it. We want to make sure we ship clean product down there. And we want to push back if we start feeling that there are illegitimate issues trying to keep us from exporting to Mexico.”
But Lantz says Mexico has been listening …
LANTZ … “I want to give Mexico, the Mexican government credit that they have opened the market. And they have worked with us as a partner on this since the market
has been open.”
And Lantz hopes it continues …
LANTZ … “Now, we are in a good spot with the Mexicans where we’re collaborating if there are pest issues. We work with them. You know, they’re not threatening to close the market, so I give them credit for that.”
Listen tomorrow when we look at another difficult export market in Japan and why Lantz says it’s showing promise.
