PACIFIC INTERNATIONAL MARKETING INC. Marketer grows into its name 10 percent of vegetable crop now g

4/28/1995 12:00:00 AM

By Bureau

PACIFIC INTERNATIONAL MARKETING INC. Marketer grows into its name 10 percentof vegetable crop now goes into export sales.

By Chuck Harvey

Staff Writer

SALINAS, Calif. -- Pacific International Marketing Inc., Salinas, now can beclassified as an international marketer as its name implies.

Mostly a domestic producer during its first six years of operation, PacificInternational Marketing now sells about 10 percent of its vegetable cropoverseas.

Although the percentage may seem small, the company exported 70 percent moreproduct in 1994 than it did in 1993, president Tom Russell said. Reaching the10 percent figure has been a gradual process because the domestic part of thebusiness also has been growing, he said.

One of the major exports is broccoli.

Russell said his company will ship 15 percent to 20 percent of its broccolicrop to Japan in 1995. Pacific International Marketing produces about 2million cartons of broccoli a year.

Japanese buyers are demanding, requesting only top-quality 5 1/21 -inchcrowns, Russell said. But the rewards can be very good, he said.

``They never pay less than $10 a case,'' he said. Even with demandingspecifications, it is a profitable deal, Russell said.

A case holds 38 crowns and weighs about 20 pounds.

Because the crowns are an extra-fancy grade, field crews must spend some timelooking for them. In most fields, suitable crowns make up between 10 percentand 30 percent of the crop, Russell said.

The Japanese order broccoli year-round, but demand is heaviest in winter, hesaid. Russell said his broccoli crop is doing fine now, but he had a toughtime during the winter floods.

Other crops doing well on the foreign market include lettuce, celery andasparagus, Russell said. He has been selling the three crops to Hong Kong,mostly in the summer.

Taiwan and Hong Kong also are big buyers of broccoli in the summer, Russellsaid.

Russell said oversees demand for U.S. vegetables has been growing by 20percent to 30 percent a year. He expects to see growth in purchases fromSoutheast Asian countries in the next few years.

Along with broccoli, Pacific International Marketing ships mixed and headlettuce, asparagus, green onions and radishes. The marketing and brokeragecompany sells about 80 percent of its product on the domestic retail market.

The remainder goes to terminal and foodservice markets, along with exports,Russell said.

Pacific International Marketing sells its products under three labels, DynastyFarms, Pacific Fresh Marketing and New Harvest Foods.