Fruit exports from Mexico rose by 18.9 per cent in value to US$2.83bn during 2011, against the year earlier, driven by sales of avocados, watermelons, mangoes, papayas, limes and table grapes.
According to the Mexican ministry of agriculture (Sagarpa) and reported by El Financiero, in 2010 Mexican fruit exports totalled US$2.57bn, comprising mainly avocados, watermelons, limes and papayas which were largely exported to the US.
Between 1994 and 2010, Mexican fruit exports have grown annually by 8.7 per cent in volume terms from 686,000 tonnes to 2.6m tonnes, Sagarpa said.
Mexico ranks as the world’s leading avocado producer with 1.1m tonnes, according to Sagarpa, followed by Chile.
In the last decade Mexican avocado exports have risen by 20 per cent annually to reach 369,000 tonnes in 2010.
Between January and December 2011, Mexico exported almost 349,000 tonnes of avocados worth some US$900m, Sagarpa noted.
Mexico is also the second-biggest producer of limes in the world, with 1.9m tonnes, and the leading exporter of the citrus fruit with 453,000 tonnes, according to Sagarpa.
In the watermelon category, Sagarpa said Mexico is the main supplier in the world thanks to an annual export growth rate of 8 per cent over the last decade.
