SOURCE: Tom Karst, AgWeb
Dominated by Mexican fruit, total U.S. imports of avocados rose 6.4% in 2019 to more than 1.1 million metric tons.
U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics show that total imports of 1.11 million metric tons of avocados rated 6.4% above 2018 imports of 1.04 million metric tons and 22.7% more than 2017 imports of 900,198 metric tons.
U.S. imports of Mexican avocados in 2019 totaled 946,000 metric tons, up 7.8% from 2018 and a whopping 26% more than 2017.
Mexico accounted for 88% of the volume of U.S. avocado imports in 2019, compared with 87% in 2018 and 86% in 2017.
For 2019, Peru accounted for 7.6% and Chile 1.2% of U.S. avocado imports by volume.
The USDA reported the per-unit value of U.S. imports of avocados was $1.14 per pound, compared with $1.03 per pound in 2018 and $1.33 per pound in 2017.
Laredo tops
Laredo, Texas was the top port for Mexican avocado shipments to the U.S. in 2019. USDA statistics show.
The USDA said Mexican avocado shipments through Laredo, Texas, in 2019 totaled 933 million pounds, or about 424,000 metric tons. That compared with about 815 million pounds or 370,000 metric tons through Pharr, Texas and 29 million pounds or 13,600 metric tons through Nogales, Ariz.