The head of Michoacan's agricultural policy stressed that thanks to the extraordinary quality, health and safety of Michoacan's avocados, the demand for the fruit in countries such as the Netherlands and Spain has increased by more than 200%, which is good, because it results in market diversification.
He also commented that Zitácuaro ranks 19th out of the 57 Michoacan municipalities that cultivate this fruit. The avocado production of this municipality in the east of the state is equivalent to that of the states of Colima and Veracruz combined.
In recent years, there has been a boost in the demand for avocados in the international market, so production has increased. Between the year 2000 and 2010, the fruit's production went from 907 thousand to one million 107 thousand tonnes; that is, an average annual growth of 2.3 percent.
From 2011 to 2015, avocado production has continued to grow by an average 8.3 percent per year, going from one million 264 thousand tonnes to one million 644 thousand tonnes. This growth has mostly been driven by the foreign demand.
The United States is by far the largest consumer of Mexican avocados. It is estimated that 8 out of every 10 avocados that Mexico sells abroad go to the US market.
Prospects point to this dynamic continuing, not only in terms of export volume, but also in market diversification, since there are opportunities to export avocados to Argentina, Norway, Lithuania, Poland and Colombia.
Source: agenciatzacapu.com
