One of Mexico's leading banana grower-exporters is hoping to ramp up its business in Europe, with significant volume increases expected in the near future.

San Carlos, which is part of Grupo Cabal and sells its fruit in Europe under the Bananas from Mexico brand, owns plantations in the regions of Tabasco, Chiapas and Colima.

Speaking to www.freshfruitportal.com, executive Carlos Cabal said the group was speaking to potential clients in a range of European countries.

"We’re trying to solidify ourselves in Europe, trying to select major partners that can grow with us," he said.

"As a company we're planting around 300-500 hectares every year, so we’re having quite a bit of growth and we want to choose the right partners.

"This year the strategy is to try to showcase the fruit as much as possible in Europe to get some more clients and get feedback. We’re currently working with people in places like Italy, Russia, the U.K., the Netherlands, Germany, Greece and Turkey, selecting clients that can grow with us."

He added that the recent opening of a European office allowed the company to be closer to its clients and would help it to reach its goals more easily.

While most of San Carlos' production is based in Tabasco and Chiapas, earlier this year the company planted an additional 200 hectares in Colima with view to establishing its first organic plantation.

"We want to go into the organic and hopefully organic fair trade, because most of the clients are demanding that and we’re currently only supplying them with the conventional fruit, so for us it’s the next logical step," he said.

While the company's production volumes were a little lower than expected during the first few months of this year due to cold weather in many growing regions between January and April, Cabal expected volumes to soar next year.

"This year might be complicated and our plans are to close this year exporting roughly 100,000-130,000 boxes per week, but next year the average per week should be around 200,000 boxes per week," he said.

He also mentioned that volumes from many of the Colima plantations were starting to recover from the effects of last year's severe hurricane.

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