Feature: Small Mexican growers keen to tickle Chinese taste buds

MEXICO CITY, Dec. 8 (Xinhua) -- Small Mexican agricultural producers are seeking to access the Chinese market with value-added goods, such as salsas and spirits.

A group of avocado growers and packers in Mexico's western Nayarit state is a prime example. Five years ago, they decided to start making guacamole, a party staple concocted from mashed avocado, tomato, onion and seasonings, and market it under the brand name Guacamo Dely.

Today, the company in the central city of Xalisco employs 120 people and exports to the United States and Israel. Now it is about to send its first shipment of 10 tons to Russia.

The next target is China. After having done their market research, the group plans to modify the product to suit the Chinese palate. Hugo Guerrero, the company's sales manager, told Xinhua that since Chinese consumers aren't fond of sour food items, Guacamo Dely will make a version for the Chinese market without adding lime juice.

"We have done tests... so we can win over this new market. We ... want to satisfy them," Guerrero said.

Mexico's agricultural exports to China have doubled to 300 million U.S. dollars a year since the two countries agreed to relaunch trade ties in 2013.

In the past four years, Mexican products like avocado, beer and tequila have gained a foothold in the Chinese market, while the Chinese government has opened the door in the past three years to Mexican beef, pork, dairy, berries, corn and leaf tobacco.

FROM TEQUILA TO MEZCAL

Gerson Alcantar wants to introduce the Chinese to mezcal, an alcoholic beverage made from the agave plant, that his family has been handcrafting for 150 years in the mountainous municipality of Mezquital, in the northern state of Durango.

A cousin of tequila, mezcal has a notable charcoal-fired aroma and Alcantar thinks Chinese consumers will relish the taste.

His small company Apaluz employs 50 people and produces 200,000 liters of the spirit, which is sold exclusively in Mexico.

However, now Alcantar, who is the sales manager, wants to ride the wave of popularity that mezcal currently enjoys and take the product to China and other destinations around the world.

Chinese buyers have already shown an interest in Apaluz mezcal, which features a scorpion in every bottle, a reminder of the arachnid's prevalence in the desert climes of Durango.

"We have high hopes of arriving over there soon ... It's a country with a lot of people... If 10 percent (of the population) consumes (our mezcal), that's a good amount," he said.

Guacamo Dely and Apaluz are two of the 800 Mexican products participating in the 2017 Mexico Food Show, which opened in Mexico City Friday.

Some 150 buyers from 34 countries are attending the three-day show, including a delegation from China.

Hua Yaoming with Shanghai's Aon Food Enterprises said he was looking for Mexican wine and beef suppliers, who sell high-quality and competitively-priced products compared to many other countries like Australia.

"Many Mexican beef producers still have no access to the Chinese market, but they are requesting ... to be able to do so," said Hua, who is on his first business trip to Latin America.

The Mexican government estimates the food fair, which aims to primarily promote small-scale producers looking to export their ware, will see contracts worth nearly 1 billion U.S. dollars signed. Enditem