The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) prioritized five advantages for U.S. retail food exporters to Mexico.

1. Increased awareness of health and body care generates greater demand for healthy products, which is an advantage for U.S. products.
2. Continued investments in the public-private supply chain ensure reliable and timely deliveries of perishable goods, preserving product quality and adding to supply chain connections between the U.S. and Mexico by land, air and sea.
3. Mexican retailers, hotels and restaurant chains are familiar with U.S. products and best practices.
4. To ensure end-to-end cold chain distribution throughout the country, industry practices are gaining in sophistication.
5. The shared U.S.-Mexico border gives U.S. exporters a competitive logistical advantage over other third-country suppliers.

Food Exporters

In contrast, the USDA outlined the following five challenges:

1. Mexico’s government recently implemented new labeling regulations in 2020, requiring certain products that exceed nutritional thresholds for calories, fat, salt and sugar to display front-of-package labels, and restricting advertising and promotions aimed at children.
2. Although not common outlets for relatively expensive U.S. products, low-end retailers and smaller hotels are the fastest growing segment for Mexico’s hospitality industry.
3. Local manufacturers are quickly adapting to meet the needs of the retail and hospitality industry, increasing their competitiveness with U.S. products.
4. Cold chain distribution remains limited in the «last mile» of delivery and in southern Mexico, where distribution centers remain underdeveloped.
5. If Mexico’s food distribution network continues to improve, the Mexican market becomes attractive to other countries seeking to export their products. New third-country free trade agreements also add more competition to U.S. products and, in particular, to U.S. food exporters.

Small-to-medium sized potential exporters can work with the appropriate U.S. State Regional Trade
Group (SRTG) to take advantage of the SRTG’s resources for marketing and promotion support in
Mexico.

To learn more about the services available from the SRTGs, exporters should look for the SRTG in their geographic region in the list below and visit the website.

• Western U.S. Agricultural Trade Association (WUSATA).
• Southern U.S. Trade Association (SUSTA).
• Food Export-Midwest (previously named MIATCO) (Food Export).
• Food Export-Northeast (Previously named Food Export USA) (Food Export).