Angelica Enciso L.
Newspaper La Jornada
Monday, February 14, 2022, p. 4
In 2021, the value of Mexican avocado exports amounted to 3 thousand 85 million dollars -14.2 percent more than a year before-, but the United States was the main destination of this food, since sales to this nation were estimated at a total value of 2 thousand 557 million dollars with a volume of one million 15 thousand tons. Only Michoacán has the export permit to this country, indicated the Agrifood and Fisheries Information Service (SIAP).
These sales are at risk, after last Friday the United States government determined the temporary suspension
of avocado shipments from Mexico because one of its inspectors in Uruapan, Michoacán, received a telephone threat. This is a non-tariff measure that applies to the so-called green gold
and that, according to the central bank, it is the third agro-industrial product that Mexico sells the most to the world, after beer and tequila.
Avocado exports closed 2021 only below beer, which last year left the country with revenues of 5,617 million dollars thanks to an annual increase of 19.9 percent, and tequila, which left 3,316 million, an increase 35 percent annually.
The presence of personnel from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service of the United States Department of Agriculture (APHIS-USDA) in Michoacán is part of the work plan for the export of Hass avocado from Mexico to the United States, in order to verify the product that is going to be exported and, once authorized, is mobilized to the packaging for its conditioning, specified the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (Sader).
Michoacán is the main national producer of this fruit, with 76 percent of the total, around 2 million tons. Jalisco, which occupies the second place in national production, with 9 percent, is expected to start exporting to the neighboring country this year, since visits to the Fruit Production Units will soon begin to corroborate its phytosanitary status in order to that they be certified by APHIS-USDA in coordination with Senasica.
The main municipalities of Michoacán that produce avocado are Peribán, Los Reyes, Uruapan, Tancítaro, Salvador Escalante, Tacámbaro, Ario de Rosales, Uruapan and Nuevo Parangaricutiro. This production is so important for the state that its value represents 51.34 percent of the value of the Michoacan primary sector.
Specialists have pointed out that Mexico must regulate the production of avocado, which is outside the T-MEC, but if it is found that the activity is not friendly to the environment, it would be in breach of chapter 24 of the treaty on environmental care. , for which the United States would be in danger of imposing sanctions or vetoes on its export.
The producers of this fruit, especially those from Michoacán, have been singled out for their bad practices, especially for the indiscriminate felling of trees to have space to grow crops, even through illegal logging. The National Institute of Forestry, Agricultural and Livestock Research estimates that each year between 600 and 1,000 hectares of forest are lost to plant avocados.
In a specific report on avocado, the SIAP pointed out that, until the second week of December 2021, Mexico exported to the neighboring country just over one million 64 thousand tons of avocado, of which one million 15 thousand correspond to the whole fresh fruit, 33 thousand 516 to guacamole and 15 thousand 353 to pulp.
Only in the first week of December 2021, exports to the United States were 3,935 tons and in the second, shipments were registered for 18,789. Usually, in the last week of January, around 37,000 tons are exported, before the Super Bowl. This season is the most important for Mexican avocado growers, as demand in the United States increases by up to 40 percent.
Between January and November 2021, the US population spent almost 400 million dollars to purchase this product. Of the total avocado that the neighboring country acquires, whether prepared or preserved, 97 percent comes from Michoacán, SIAP indicated.
Just last October, the United States ordered the suspension of the importation of Mexican tomatoes from an agricultural company, considering that there was forced labor in production.
