Mexico will find it difficult to achieve last year's avocado export volumes (500,000 tonnes), as the harvest this season will be smaller and foreign sales are thus expected to drop by around 25%, down to 400,000 tonnes.
However, unlike last year, prices this season will be higher. "If we ship 350,000 tonnes to the United States and 400,000 worldwide, it will be really good," affirmed the president of the National Agricultural Council, BenjamÃn Grayeb.
He explained that this year started with high prices, after ten years staying low. As a result of this, he estimated avocado growers to have perceived 30% less in relation to the value of exports, which amounted to approximately 1,000 million dollars.
Prices dropped last season, but not due to external factors, but to excessive production volumes, as 300,000 extra tonnes were harvested. To have an idea of what this means, it is worth noting that the world's second largest avocado producer is the United States with around 22,000 tonnes.
BenjamÃn Grayeb stressed that last year, Mexico exported more than half a million tonnes to the United States, 40,000 to Japan, 30,000 to Canada and another 30,000 to the European Union.
In Japan, 90% of the avocados in the market are Mexican, and most are consumed only in two cities: Tokyo and Osaka. Producers wish to expand in this country and this year's growth prospects are of 10%.
Average export prices will stand at around 20 pesos per kilo (1.55 dollars), and avocado growers are hoping not to lose revenue this year.
Source: imagenagropecuaria.com