After a deal was reached earlier this year allowing the shipment of Mexican figs into the United States, the first amounts of Mexican fruit have now reached U.S. markets, says a release from SAGARPA, dated July 23. With the U.S. market now open to Mexican exporters, plantings of figs in Mexico could increase.
The first shipment was 257 kilograms of fresh figs that were treated and irradiated, per the agreement reached between the U.S. Department of Agriculture and its Mexican equivalent. The first figs sent came from production in the Mexican states of Morelos and Puebla. Following the first shipment, a second load of 628 kilograms of fresh figs was sent.
There are currently 200 hectares of production in Mexico, mostly in Morelos, Baja California Sur, Puebla and Hidalgo. That acreage could increase should Mexican exporters find success with subsequent shipments. Current national production is estimated at just over 6,000 tonnes of figs valued at about US$3 million.
Source: Secretary of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fishing and Food (SAGARPA)