Dive Brief:
- Five containers of Valencia oranges were offloaded from a ship last week at the Port of Philadelphia. The cargo marked the end of years of lobbying efforts to bring citrus from Uruguay to the United States.
- U.S. growers have long fought efforts to import Uruguayan citrus. But those efforts failed as the USDA and Uruguay reached agreement on safety protocols.
- One big winner in the deal is Seald Sweet International, a Florida-based importer that lobbied hard for the right to import from Uruguay.
Dive Insight:
Last week's cargo at Philly was just a test. The citrus season in Uruguay runs from May through September. By summer, the port of Philadelphia will receive shipments of oranges, mandarins and lemons. That's good news for consumers, grocers and everyone else ... with the exception of domestic growers. But this is business in a global economy.
