San Luis-Original food products from Mexico may be difficult to find for some Latinos looking to buy them in the United States.
The demand for traditional Mexican products sold in Arizona is increasing and a bi-national cooperation agreement between Baja California and the City of San Luis aims to tap into the “nostalgia market”.
Violeta Romero shows off her handmade soap made from “Tepezcohuite”, the very same plant used by the Mayans of Mexico to treat skin lesions over a thousand years ago.
Romero is among the dozens of merchants from the state of Baja California in Mexico, who showcased their products at a business expo in the City of San Luis.
City of San Luis development director Jenny Torres said a bi-national cooperation agreement with the Ministry of Economic Development of Baja California was signed this week.
“We're hoping to help the economy," Torres said. "We have a business incubator that is available for those businesses to start their business here. And obviously the creation of jobs and the income that would be generated by having those products here.”
Economic Development Director of Baja California Ivan Martija said the nostalgia market is a rapidly growing industry in California and Arizona.
“All immigrants that come from Latin America and from Mexico don’t easily find the products they remember from their childhood or when they were growing up in Mexico," Martija said.
As part of the two-day expo, merchants from Baja California hoped to make a business connection with employers in Arizona.
"There are a lot of similarities with the eastern part of Baja and Arizona in the economy, culture," Martija said. "Both communities are integrated, so it’s only a natural step to want to develop a partnership like 'Cali-Baja' but were naming it 'Ari-Baja'."
"And also with the state of Sonora, so we have a four state mega region to be competitive in the world,” he said.
The expo also offered a series of workshops for producers from Baja California wanting to know requirements for marketing in the United States.
