Dole Packaged Foods is carefully tracking tariffs and trade tensions for supply chain ramifications, as the CPG company aims to recreate its success with pineapple with another tropical fruit – mango.
Similar to other food producers, Dole Packaged Foods is trying to analyze the back-and-forth tariffs proposed by the Trump administration on countries like Mexico and Canada and how they will impact pricing and raw ingredient availability, Orzse Hodi, president of Dole Packaged Foods US, explained at Natural Products Expo West.
“The big challenge is tariffs now. And like any other organization, we are struggling to understand the path forward. Is this long-term? Is this short-term? How do we prepare for that? But one thing is for sure that we will continue to protect our consumers because that is the most important thing,” she elaborated.
Can tariffs interrupt the year of the mango?
These trade tensions come as Dole Packaged Foods expanded its fruit portfolio with a series of mango products, including canned mango chunks, pineapple mango juice and fruit bowls with diced mango. Additionally, the company will launch a mango flavor of its iconic frozen Dole Whip later this spring.
Last year, Dole Packaged Foods' parent company broadened its fruit portfolio to include mango, laying the foundation for the packaged goods' launch. Dole sources mangoes from Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Ecuador and Peru, providing supply chain redundancies, the company shared.
Other fruits might not be so insulated from supply chain shocks as mango. Dole Packaged Foods sources strawberries from Mexico, which are used in its frozen products and strawberry puree for its Dole Whip frozen dessert.
Trump's 'zero-sum game' set to rise prices, Rabobank predicts
The Trump administration's trade war with Canada and Mexico, and worsening global trade tension could raise consumer prices by mid-single digits in the back half of the year, Tom Bailey, senior analyst of consumer foods at Rabobank, shared in a recent article.
“When it comes to the inflationary impacts of tariffs on food, it is still mid-single digits. But when we are talking about that on top of cumulative 30% inflation since 2020, every dollar counts, and that is where things become tricky for US consumers,” Bailey elaborated.
The Trump administration initially applied a 25% tariff on all Mexican imports on March 4, before suspending them two days later until April 2, Reuters reported.
Despite the back-and-forth, Dole Packaged Foods is assessing what risk and volatility it can absorb to ensure prices remain low for consumers as it celebrates “the year of the mango,” Hodi explained.
“Quality and accessibility have been a Dole Packaged Foods staple for the last 120 years. It is how our consumers and customers have come to know and trust our brand and products. That trust is the core of our business and remains true today which is why we are actively evaluating the full scope of proposed tariffs, their potential impact to our sourcing, and possible solutions to maintain our commitment to deliver accessible fruit to as many people as possible,” she emphasized.
