The US will stop importing avocados from Michoacán until insecurity is resolved

But later he pointed out that it may be in the next few days, “it may be Wednesday or Thursday that it reopens, perhaps today,” he added in an interview with the Radio Formula station.

Michoacán exports avocados worth more than 3.5 billion dollars a year, mainly to the United States, which imports around one million tons annually. Another million is for domestic consumption of the fruit, which is also sold to 30 other countries.

The inspectors, whom the governor identified as Mexicans who work at the US embassy, ​​did not run “any risk” during the event, which was not linked to their work, according to Ramírez. “The information we have is that there was no direct issue against them for the activity they carried out,” he said.

After what happened in Aranza, Washington suspended the work of the inspectors “per protocol,” the governor added, and blocked exports of the fruit. On Monday, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Agriculture said inspections had been paused until further notice.

Gabriela Siller, director of Economic Analysis at Grupo Financiero Base, said that the economic impact will depend on the duration of the suspension. “In the first 4 months of the year, Mexico exported 1,193.8 million dollars in avocado, equivalent to 0.74% of Mexico’s total exports to the United States. This is an average per month of 298.45 million dollars.”

He points out that the data comes from Banxico’s foreign trade cube, and although it is not divided by state of origin, a USDA document published in April of this year mentions that in 2023, 72.9% of Mexican avocados were produced in Michoacán. .

“Taking that percentage and the average monthly export of avocado to the US, a 1-month suspension would have a probable cost of 217.5 million dollars,” Siller calculated.

With information from Reuters