A look at the three leading apple shipping states; Mexican avocado imports; and the approval of imported mangoes from Vietnam.
U.S. Apple Shipments
Christmas apple shipments are always big in the U.S. and vast amount of loading are coming out of Washington’s Yakima and Wenachee Valleys. Washington state is shipping around 3500 truck load equivalents of apples a week! A distant second is the state of New York, which is moving about 250 trucks weekly, led by the Hudson Valley, although there are probably a half dozen production areas spread across the state. In Michigan, mostly from the western part of the state centered around Grand Rapids, about 225 truck loads of fruit is being shipped each week.
Washington apples – grossing about $8000 to New York City.
Mexican Avocados
Hass avocado volume from Mexico is forecast at 1.8 million to 1.9 million metric tons, up from 1.7 million metric tons in 2016-17. Nearly 80 percent of all Mexican avocadoes are exported to the U.S., though shipments to Canada, Japan and European countries have risen in recent years.
Mexican exports of avocados should hit nearly 1 million metric tons (95 million 23-pound cartons) in 2017-18, up 15 percent from 873,963 metric tons (83.5 million cartons) in 2016-17. Mexican avocado plantings increased 7.3 percent in 2016-17 to 544,457 acres, and another increase is predicted for 2017-18.
The Mexican state of Michoacan is the world leader in avocado production and accounts for 80 percent of all the country’s avocado production.
Mexican produce crossing the South Texas border – grossing about $4700 to New York City.
Vietnam Mango Imports
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is amending its regulations to allow the importation of fresh mango fruit from Vietnam into the continental United States. After analyzing the potential plant pest risks, APHIS scientists determined that mangos from Vietnam can be safely imported.
The final rule was published in the Federal Register on November 29th, and will become effective 30 days after publication, or on December 29th.