U.S. to allow imports of Hass avocados from all Mexican states

The U.S. Embassy in Mexico City issued this press release on Friday May 27:

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is amending regulations to allow the importation of Hass avocados from all areas of Mexico into the continental United States.

APHIS will require that Mexican states undertake a number of safeguards in order to export their Hass avocados, including a number of safeguards on orchard standards and product transport. Additionally, APHIS will require the fruit be imported in commercial shipments and accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate and a declaration that the safeguards have been followed.

Since 2004, approximately 181,000 shipments totaling over 3.2 million metric tons of fresh Hass avocado from Michoacán have been imported into the United States. This rule will allow all Mexican states to export if they meet the requirements spelled out in the final rule. In 2015, the United States imported $1.5 billion of Hass avocados from Mexico, an increase of 18 percent from 2014.

The state of Jalisco already meets the new shipping requirements, and is expected to export approximately 13K metric tons in the first year, and up to 26K metric tons in subsequent years.

Source: U.S. Embassy, Mexico City