Jalisco, Mexico - Given the difficulties that avocado producers from Jalisco are having to gain access to the US market, Jalisco avocado producers are now trying to win over the Chinese market.

The director of the Association of Producers and Exporters of Avocado from Jalisco (Apeajal), Ignacio Gomez Arregui, told El Economista that they were organizing a visit for Chinese officials, so that they can see their production and packaging processes.

"Our challenge right now is the Chinese market. Unfortunately for the producers of avocado from Jalisco, China has the same protocol that the U.S. has for avocado with Mexico; i.e. the avocado from Jalisco can't enter mainland China because the protocol is only for avocados from the state of Michoacan."

He said that, after postponing a visit to the fields in the state, which was scheduled for late 2016, local producers scheduled a later date and are waiting for mainland China to open its market to the avocado from Jalisco. "We are pushing for a visit of these Chinese authorities to Jalisco so that they can see the production and packaging process we have and the quality of our avocados," Ignacio Gomez said.

"We believe that, after the visit, Jalisco will be added to this program to export to mainland China. It is an opportunity we have been working for. Currently, while we solve our issues with the United States, we want to continue working on this opportunity with China," he said.

Even though avocados are generally unknown in China, Jalisco producers have said that Michoacan's exports to China have been growing at a surprising rate.

"The volumes shipped to China are still insignificant when compared to exports to the United States, Japan, or Canada. However, there are very interesting numbers and there are also very interesting projections. Thus, it's very important that we enter this market as soon as possible because there are other countries that are already supplying it, such as Chile and Peru," he said.

All Eyes on the United States

According to Gomez Arregui, they are working to gain access to China at the same time that they work to gain access to the US market, where they are waiting for the administration of Republican Donald Trump to appoint the officials responsible for negotiations with Mexico.

"We are in constant communication with Senasica (Mexico's National Health Service, Food Safety and Quality), which is part of Sagarpa (Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food), to see if the US has already appointed middle managers with whom to negotiate such agreements, to continue monitoring the incorporation of Jalisco so that we can export avocados to the United States."

"Jalisco has had to search for other markets because, since it can't export to the United States, it has a considerable volume of product. Jalisco exports avocados to 21 countries," he added.