Avocado production is vital to the economy of Mexico with the country being the world’s largest producer of the crop, supplying as much as 45 percent of the international avocado market.
The avocado industry has been growing steadily through the years with the U.S. industry set to sell more than 2.6 billion pounds of avocados imported from Mexico in 2022.
“This will represent a record-breaking crop in terms of volume and eating quality,” said Peter Shore, vice president of product management for Calavo. “Fruit is at peak maturity and ripening great at retail and restaurants.”
Currently, there are more than 30,000 avocado growers and 74 packing houses in Mexico participating in the cross-border trade.
The biggest news concerning Mexican avocados lately is the state of Jalisco is now permitted to export Hass avocados to the states.
“This is a new growing region and adds in volume to the U.S.,” Shore said, adding that this change will make a big difference in Mexican avocados in the future.
The agreement integrates 695 orchards, 9,441 hectares, 11 packing houses and 10 municipalities in Jalisco, which many see as a positive thing for the entire industry.
“Our expansion into the Jalisco region will strengthen our grower base and allow us to increase our import numbers, enhancing our mission of providing consumers with the freshest avocados year-round,” said Ron Campbell, executive director at the Mexican Hass Avocado Importers Association. “This first export of avocados from Jalisco will only improve the already positive economic benefits of avocado imports from Mexico.”
In the past 7 years, U.S. consumption of Avocados From Mexico, the No. 1 selling avocado brand in the United States, has doubled. Adding Jalisco will only make those numbers stronger.
“This first export of avocados from Jalisco only improves the already positive economic benefits of avocado imports from Mexico,” Campbell said. “As Mexican avocado imports move through the food supply chain, they contribute $6.5 billion in economic output and $4 billion in GDP in the U.S. economy. In fact, because Avocados From Mexico has tapped into U.S. culinary trends of consumers, it’s boosted avocado consumption by over 600 percent, an impressive 10 percent average annual growth rate and we expect it only to increase.”
Avocados imported from Jalisco adhere to the same standards to provide consumers in the U.S. with the high-quality avocados they know and expect from Mexico.
Of course, earlier in the year, headlines were made when the U.S. had a ban on some avocados coming from Mexico due to security threats.
The ban impacted the western state of Michoacán in Mexico, the only region in Mexico approved at that time to send avocados to the United States. Considering exports came in at approximately $3 billion the year before, this was of major concern and caused the prices of avocados to skyrocket by as much as 12 percent over 2021 prices.
However, the ban was short-lived, with things getting back to normal within a week.
The Produce News article written by Keith Loria, a graduate of the University of Miami and a D.C.-based award-winning journalist who has been writing for major publications for close to 20 years on topics as diverse as real estate, food and sports. He started his career with the Associated Press and has held high editorial positions at magazines aimed at healthcare, sports and technology. When not busy writing, he can be found enjoying time with his wife, Patricia, and two daughters, Jordan and Cassidy.