The United States imports a lot of food, like a whole lot, like $17.6 billion worth of just fruits and vegetables in 2012.

Most of that precious produce comes from Central and South America. Last year, the United States got 35% of its produce (by container ship) from South America and the majority of that comes from the rich soils of Chile. Chile sent over $1.3 billion worth of produce by vessel in 2012.

(To the right are the top produce imports to the United States from South America in 2012, created on infogr.am)

The top produce cruising its way here is fresh grapes. Grapes make up almost a quarter of all produce that comes from the continent, which is over $678 million worth. Bananas come in a close second with about 20% of South American produce exports. The third most popular crop is surprisingly cranberries and blueberries, which are about 7% of imports.

All that produce travels to both coasts of the United States, but the top port of entry is the Port of Philadelphia. That’s right, a quarter of all those grapes and nanners enter through Philly before entering your mouth. As for the western side of the nation, Los Angeles brings in 15% of South American produce, which was about $400 million worth in 2012.

Entering the conference is a whirlwind; a sea of smiling faces surrounds you, all ready to learn the latest and greatest updates from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. You have never seen so many responsible adults eager to comply. Seminar after seminar, the knowledge flows more freely than the open bar.

Our team was posted up at the exhibit hall with our beautiful booth glowing a proud orange and blue. We welcomed our customers and guests with gifts of sunglasses, mints, and fancy clicky pens, there was even a raffle for a much-coveted iPad. The attendees lost all sense of time and space when shown how to search through 115 million bills of lading in a couple clicks with our TradeIQ Import and TradeIQ Export products.

The conference was a blast, but after three days of chatting, eating, learning, and chatting and eating, we were ready to enjoy some open air and a little silence. With a nice break on Wednesday, we had two options for leisure: 1. Golf, or 2. Take the world’s largest rotating tramcar up 6,000 ft. overlooking the breathtaking Coachella Valley…I think you know where this is going. The tramcar it was! Nothing shuts you up faster than hanging from a wavering cable-car 1000 ft. in the air, it was a great way to end the trip.

Needless to say, we had an amazing time at NCBFAA in 2013. Will we see you in Las Vegas in 2014?

See some glamour shots from the Zepol team below (Mt. San Jacinto State Park).      

Zepol is excited to debut its new Home Tab, which makes accessing the information you want faster and easier. With the new tab, you can quickly access your saved searches, view charts and tables, run a quick search, and much more. The goal is to make searching our platform of databases, efficient and painless.

“There’s nothing better than having everything you need all in one place,” says Zepol’s CEO Paul Rasmussen, “Our users are busy and we know that. We want this update to make their lives easier and get them to the data they need in as few clicks as possible.”

Check out a ‘Sneak-Peak’ of our platform below, or Login Now for Free!

 

 

With all the snow, the trees, and the niceness, it’s no wonder that Minnesota also has a lot of Christmas consumption going on. This year, the Minnesota importers have brought in over 1,788 metric tons of Christmas products! To give you a better visual, imagine a long train going by, and each car is filled to the rim with Christmas décor…for two straight miles.

So what’s in those train cars? What tis the season inspiring us to buy? The answer is decorations of course. From stocking hooks, to tree stands and nativity scenes to Santa serving platters, the majority of Christmas-themed imports are solely for holiday aesthetics. Ornaments take the bulk, or bulb, of these imports, accounting for 20 TEUs (twenty foot containers) full in 2012.

The second most popular Christmas import for Minnesotans is lights, LED to be more specific. This holiday season, the state has imported 283 metric tons of Christmas lights. Hopefully there will be no shortage in one-upping your neighbor on the most spirited yard, or shining the brightest in your Holidazzle parade costume.

The top Minnesota-based companies that provide this splendor include: Seasonal Specialties in Eden Prairie, Target in Minneapolis, and Impact Innovations in Clara City. But, there are 40 more businesses directly importing Christmas products in the state to help make your holiday magical.

Zepol Corporation is a Minnesota-based company and gathered this data from its online bill of lading database of U.S. ocean imports, TradeIQ™.

If you want to see what your state imported this year, Click Here for a Free Trial of our tools.