Posts Tagged “Mexican strawberry exports”
A leading export item for Mexico are strawberries which increased 9% in 2022, making it one of the most exported berries in the country. From 2017 to 2021, Mexico produced, on average, 655,000 tons of strawberries.
The primary producing regions in the country are Michoacán, Guanajuato, Baja California, Mexico and Baja California Sur with approximately 98% of all production volume.
Founded in 2012, Naturberry is one of the leading companies in the Mexican strawberry industry. It is a subsidiary of the North American company Naturipe Berry Growers, part of the Naturipe Farms group.
In 10 years the operation grew from two workers to 18 workers, and from producing only 150,000 boxes to 3 million 4kg boxes of strawberries during the last season.
Naturberry also imports strawberries from California to Mexico during the winter months, between June and September.
The company imports around 500,000 boxes of strawberries during that time of the year.
Of the 3 million boxes that Naturberry is exporting to the U.S., between 200 and 250 thousand contain organic strawberries.
The main markets are the United States and Canada, and their production in California complements Mexico’s off-season.
98 percent of the company’s exports go to the United States,
Mexico is now the world’s leading strawberry exporter in 2020, having over taken Spain.
The Mexico News Daily reported for over 20 years Spain was led the pack with $646 million in sales in 2020, while Mexico reached over $851 million, an increase of 12.4 percent from 2019.
The U.S. ranks third with $477 million.
Mexican strawberries’ main export destination was the U.S., as it imported 99.3 percent of Mexico’s shipments. Spain mainly exports within Europe.
Mexico overcame difficulties prompted by the current pandemic such as shortage of labor and the collapse of foodservice demand, to which 15 percent of the fruit is sold.
On the other hand, the pandemic contributed to the purchase of foods perceived as healthy, such as berries, according to the USDA.
The Mexican strawberry market surpassed the Belgian market in 2012, the Dutch in 2016, and the U.S. market in 2019.
Mexican strawberry exports soared 24.8 percent at an annual rate from January to April 2021, reaching $662 million dollars.
Opportimes reported volume hit 156,800 tons, an increase of 16.3 percent over last year.
Mexico’s share of the U.S. import market declined in the past two years, to about 60 percent in 2020, from 79 percent in 2018, while imports from Chile to the U.S. increased 6 percent, and imports from Peru grew 40 percent, the California Strawberry Commission reported.
Despite a decline in export shipments in mid-March 2020 when the U.S. lockdown began, shipments to the U.S. increased in 2020.
The California Strawberry Commission reported total shipments from the state in 2020 were 1.892 million pounds, 4 percent more than the previous year. While total shipments from Florida calendar year in 2020 were up 20 percent from the previous year.
Strawberry exports from central Mexico to the U.S. typically occur from November to March, while strawberry exports from Baja California, Mexico, occur from January to April in smaller quantities.
Mexican strawberry exports create competition during the Florida season and the California growing areas of Orange County and Oxnard.
The California Strawberry Processing Advisory Board reported the 2020 estimated package of frozen strawberries in the U.S. was 359.7 pounds, slightly below the previous year and below the average levels of recent years.
With a lower package, below average starting stocks, and a slight increase in demand, U.S. frozen strawberry imports were up 26 percent in 2020 compared to the previous year.
Import volumes from Mexico, the largest supplier of frozen strawberry imports to the US, increased 17 percent from 2019.
Tridge, a global sourcing and market intelligence hub for food buyers and suppliers, has reported the latest market trends affecting the food and agriculture sector. This week the biggest news relates to a surge in demand for Mexican strawberries, which has increased its export rates by 11% since April.
In comparison to this time last year (April – June), the demand for the product in the global market has risen significantly. North America, for example, has increased its import rate for Mexican strawberries by 23%.
A similar trend has been witnessed for Mexican bananas. Despite prolonged lockdown in the country, exports for bananas have increased by 8% compared to 2019, with North America and Europe being the main export destinations.
However, Middle Eastern countries have experienced a decline in fruit imports from Mexico. This is due to a lack of air freight and trade restrictions across borders, resulting from the impacts of Covid-19.
Hoshik Shin, founder and CEO at Tridge, said: “While the impacts of Covid-19 are still impacting trade, our workforce has observed significant increases in the demand for fruits from European and North American importers.
“Weather conditions and labour shortages have affected harvest yields for some producers, meaning that importers will be looking for alternative suppliers. Using an online sourcing and trading platform such as Tridge will give buyers more options when looking for quality products at good prices.”
About Tridge
Tridge is a global trade ecosystem where buyers and suppliers of agricultural and food products can find everything they need to understand their markets with just a simple search. Using a combination of the latest digital technology and the latest insights gathered through a human network, they provide a very powerful global-scale platform for buyers and suppliers to connect and do business with each other more confidently.
Using a global network covering over 150 countries worldwide, Tridge has developed a comprehensive data set of 300,000,000+ prices and 1,600,000,000+ trade data points covering 1000+ items in the agriculture and food sector, and successfully facilitates the B2B and B2C trading of these items. Tridge aims to achieve digitalisation and globalisation of the trade industry.