The United States, Canada and Japan were the main Mexican avocado markets abroad in 2021, according to data from the Ministry of Economy.
Mexico is the largest exporter of this fruit in the world, with foreign sales of 3,049 million dollars last year, 3.4% more than in 2020.
Avocados are a rich source of nutrients including monounsaturated fats, dietary fiber, potassium and Mg, as well as phytochemicals.
Geographically, Mexican avocado exports in 2021 went mainly to the United States (2,389 million dollars), Canada (208 million), Japan (142 million), Spain (83 million) and Honduras (36 million).
In 2020 and 2021, approximately 80% of the avocados exported from Michoacán were shipped to US markets. The peak growing season for avocados in Mexico is from January to March, while the growing season for avocados in the United States runs from April to September.
Other relevant avocado markets for Mexico in 2021 were: the Netherlands (35 million dollars), France (34 million), El Salvador (33 million), China (12 million) and the United Kingdom (11 million).
Avocado markets
In terms of volume, Mexico’s foreign sales of this product totaled 1.27 million tons in 2021, a year-on-year drop of 5.8 percent.
According to research published by the US Department of Health, exploratory studies suggest that avocados may support weight management and healthy aging.
The avocado belongs to the Lauraceae family and represents one of the four most important tropical fruits with global production and expanding trade throughout Europe.
The increase in consumption is related to different factors (the availability of the product through various sales channels and its versatility of use and consumption, as well as an appreciable taste for the different products).
In particular, its consumption is independent of that of traditional fruits, but it is strongly correlated with the tendency to food neophilia.
Recently, marketing research has shown that consumer preferences are much more affected by lifestyle and fashion trends than by economic factors such as income and education.
Avocado can be considered a medicinal fruit due to its high levels of antioxidants and other nutritional properties, and different results have recently been reported regarding the consumption of avocado nutrients in association with cardiovascular benefits.
