Mexican tomato exports currently exceed or equal avocado and beer exports, stated the president of the Tomato Product System, Manuel Antonio Cazares Castro. According to Cazares Castro, this sector exports about 1,800,000, of the 3,800,000 tons it produces, to the United States.
The Association of Producers and Exporting Packers of Avocado from Mexico said they expected avocado exports to the United States in 2017 to decrease by 8% to 10%, i.e. about 866,000 thousand tons less than in 2016.
The tomato sector directly employs nearly 350 thousand people with more than 10 million days' wages: "We have increased exports greatly and, seeing all different areas, the Free trade Agreement (NAFTA) brought much benefit," said the manager.
Cazares said that the revision of the NAFTA would benefit tomato growers "if the US imposes a tariff, the American consumers would pay more for our tomatoes because Mexico produces tomatoes at a lower price that they can't match, due to labor costs and climatic factors."
The representative of the tomato exporters said they were getting ready to create jobs for the Mexicans who are repatriated from the United States and had 16 state representatives throughout the Mexican territory working together with the federal government and with the secretariats of agriculture and Economy.
"We have to create jobs and provide opportunities for people with different skills as the repatriated Mexicans start to come home to their places of origin," Cazares said.
Source: Milenio
