Mexico exports nearly one-half of the world’s avocado exports, amounting to a record of $3.495 billion in 2022. More and more in these exports are going to the U.S. and less in the rest of the world, according to El Economista.
Of all overseas shipments of Mexican avocados in the past year, 86.1 percent went to the U.S. market, in value terms, a share that exceeded the previous all-time high of 80.2 percent in 2014.
The growing avocado exports from Mexico are based on purchases by American consumers, but at the same time this explains the decreasing geographical diversification of Mexican external sales of this fruit.
Of all world avocado exports in the past year, Mexico had a 47.5 percent share in 2022, with sales of $3.008 billion to the U.S.
The market value of the other destinations for avocado exporters from Mexico is substantially lower: Canada ($287 million), Japan ($87 million), Spain ($41 million), El Salvador ($26 million), Honduras ($11 million), and the rest of the nations reach less than $10 million each.
The U.S. began the gradual opening of its market in 1997, after having applied an embargo on Mexican avocados for 83 years. The last stage occurred on January 31, 2007, when it allowed imports to California,
In 2003, the U.S. only represented 30.2 percent of Mexican avocado exports. Then sales were diversified to destinations such as Japan (20.5 percent), France (14.9 percent) and Canada (9.7 percent).