In 2005, New Mexico's largest green chile processor was offered a new source of New Mexican-type chiles: Peru. Border Foods of Deming, which buys 95 percent of its chiles from New Mexico, was approached at a food show in Europe and their agricultural manager, Dave Layton, said, "This is the first time a South American company has offered to sell us fresh chile for processing." If Border Foods passes on the offer, Layton went on to say, he fears that the Peruvians will become direct competitors, processing the chile themselves and selling it to Border's customers. "We don't have a strategy to deal with it," he confessed.

"Chile producers are facing fierce international competition," said Dr. Rhonda Skaggs, an agricultural economist at New Mexico State University. "Competitors are constantly nipping at our heels because chile production is a low-tech industry. You don't need to be a rocket scientist to put chile in a can."

Imports of fresh and processed chile have nearly doubled during the past ten years, from 231,000 metric tons in 1995 to 446,000 last year, Skaggs noted. Imports of dried, ground, and crushed red chile have nearly tripled over the same period of time, from 29,000 to 89,000 metric tons. Most of the imported chile comes from Mexico, but recently China and India have become major exporters of chile not only to New Mexico, but also to Mexico. Also affected by foreign imports are U.S. oleoresin and mash producers, who are being undersold by cheaper products from overseas. The imports have been a major factor in the reduction of chile acreage in New Mexico, which has dropped from 34,000 acres in 1992 to just 15,000 in 2005.

Lou Biad, owner of Rezolex, Inc. in Radium Springs, N.M., one of only two oleoresin producers in the U.S., said that mechanized harvesting of chile has improved production, "But we need to move much faster. If not, in five years foreign chile producers will control the whole market."

(In metric tons). Note that spicy mash and paprika are both sub-categories of dried, ground and crushed red peppers. Their statistics are included in the category of dried, ground and crushed red peppers.

Statistics from New Mexico State University, based on data provided by Global Trade Information Services, Inc.

	1985	2004
Mexico	8,250	23,902
India	6,236	18,002
China	2,621	16,050
Peru	0	8,615
Spain	2,128	4,351
Colombia	593	3,625
Chile	2,227	3,562
Others	6,891	10,556
Totals	28,946	88,643

Fresh and Chilled Green Chile (includes bell peppers)

	1985	2004
Mexico	203,970	363,194
Canada	6,944	48,615
Netherlands	17,828	20,087
Israel	692	8,834
Dominican Republic	817	2,020
Spain	18	1,980
Others	1,120	1,277
Totals	231,389	446,007

	1985	2004
Mexico	1,549	14,211
Colombia	0	3,597
Costa Rica	12	1,489
China	0	1,166
Peru	0	984
Honduras	135	560
South Korea	1	537
Others	64	1,688
Totals	1,761	24,232

	1985	2004
Peru	0	6,393
Spain	2,096	3,969
Israel	385	1,370
South Africa	20	995
Brazil	124	670
Chile	649	350
Zimbabwe	58	156
Others	2,791	232
Totals	6,123	14,135

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