From September 2014 to August 2015, the top 10 imports, as measured by volume, coming through the Nogales, Arizona border crossing made up 89 percent of the total volume of Mexican fresh produce making its way into the country at the Nogales crossing. Of those 10, tomatoes, watermelons and cucumbers made up over half of imports coming through the crossing. With 5.6 billion pounds of fresh produce coming through Nogales, it was the busiest crossing for Mexican fresh produce during the 2014-2015 measured period.
“Many factors can influence the variations in the volume and gross imported custom’s value of these items including production, supply and demand, use of alternative ports, the value per pound and a combination of all these,” noted the Produce Import Report put out by the Fresh Produce Association of the Americas. “However, volume of fruits and vegetables imported through Nogales continued to grow with markedly higher tendencies in watermelons, cucumbers, grapes and chili peppers.”
Measured by value, tomatoes, bell peppers, grapes, cucumbers and squash were the top items. Combined, they accounted for nearly $1.8 billion worth of fresh produce coming into the United States.
“The most significant contributions in terms of gross imported customs value are the continued growth of mangos, watermelons, squash, the recovery of asparagus and also cucumbers, despite the drop in the total value of this item in the last year,” noted the report. “However, these increases were not enough to compensate for the drop in the total customs value of tomatoes, bell peppers, grapes and chili peppers, which explains a drop in the total gross imported value of fresh produce from Mexico through the Nogales port of one percent in one year and four percent since two seasons ago.”
For more information:
Paula Beemer
Fresh Produce Association of the Americas
+1 520 287 2707