Mexico is seeking to replicate the success its avocado had at the Super Bowl by selling thousands of tons of avocados at the football World Cup, to be held in Russia 2018. Meanwhile, the country faces an uncertain trade outlook with the United States, if president-elect Donald Trump carries out his threats against Mexican products.
The Secretary of Agriculture, Jose Calzada said that Mexico would open trade offices in Dubai and Russia during the first quarter of 2017, where they will seek to send their coveted avocado.
"We want to position the Mexican avocado in the Russian soccer World Cup just as we positioned it in the Super Bowl, where we sold around 100,000 tons, i.e. 200 million dollars worth, in one day," Calzada said at a meeting with journalists.
"The Russian market is a strategic and very important market," he added.
Mexico exports avocados to more than thirty countries, including Japan, Canada, and China. The United States, to which they shipped 808.31 tons of avocados last year, is the fruit's main export destination.
Trump has threatened to impose tariffs of 35% on Mexican products entering the US market and to pull his country out of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) if he is unable to renegotiate it once he takes office on January 20.
NAFTA has boosted trade in the region since it was launched between the US, Mexico, and Canada in 1994. It has also become the main destination for Mexican exports, despite the numerous trade agreements that the country has signed.
Mexico produces avocados in a dozen states. Michoacan is the largest producer of avocados and the only state authorized to export to the United States. In 2015, Mexico produced 1.64 million tons of avocado, 1,280,000 of which were produced in Michoacan.
Source: Reuters