The Mexican avocado industry is celebrating the first-ever delivery of fresh avocados to cross the border from the Mexican state of Jalisco into the United States. The agreement was first announced in 2021 by Mexican authorities with the United States to allow avocado imports from the additional Mexican state.
Jalisco now joins the state of Michoacán, delivering fresh, quality avocados to meet the growing demand in the U.S. Michoacán exports billions of pounds of avocados to the United States each year1. The Michoacán region meets the ideal conditions for producing and harvesting the freshest avocados year-round, with its rich volcanic soil, natural irrigation, and unique topography. Now, combined with Jalisco’s summer crop, the opportunity for high-quality Mexican avocados to reach U.S. consumers’ table will be even stronger.
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“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.
In fact, the demand for avocados has grown dramatically over the last twenty years. In the past 7 years alone, U.S. consumption of Avocados From Mexico, the number one selling avocado brand in the United States, has doubled – now at more than 8 pounds per capita per year2. In 2021, the United States imported $3.0 billion avocados, with $2.8 billion coming from Mexico (92%) – that’s 1.2 million metric tons of avocados coming from Mexico just last year. And, since 1997 when Mexico first began exporting, production has grown, with the supply of Mexican avocados in the U.S. reaching more than 2 billion pounds.
“This first export of avocados from Jalisco will only improve the already positive economic benefits of avocado imports from Mexico,” said Campbell. 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.4 “In fact, because Avocados From Mexico has tapped into U.S. culinary trends of consumers, it’s boosted avocado consumption by over 600%, an impressive 10% average annual growth rate4 and we expect it only to increase.”
The Association of Avocado Exporting Producers and Packers of Mexico (APEAM A.C.), the only cooperative partner for exporting avocados into the United States, will now work closely with Jalisco to deliver even more avocados to the U.S. This new agreement will allow the import of fresh Hass avocados from Mexico to expand and will operate under the Cooperative Service Agreement between the USDA-Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and APEAM. The new agreement integrates 695 orchards, 9,441 hectares, 11 packing houses and 10 municipalities in Jalisco.