The National Agricultural Council (NAC) announced that the 30% tariff paid for Mexican avocado shipments entering China is expected to be eliminated later this year.
Within the framework of the 13th Congress of the Latin American Association for the Development of Agricultural Insurances (Alasa), held in Puebla, the entity said that the federal government, through the Secretariat of Economy (SE) and a number of producers, is carrying out negotiations to make it possible for Mexican avocado exports to China to be tariff-free by the start of 2015.
He pointed out that Mexico's interest in Asia focuses on three major destinations, one of which is Japan, where 40,000 tonnes were already shipped last year, with prospects for 30,000 tonnes in 2014, while the other two are China and Korea.
He stressed that China is very attractive for Mexican producers, as it has a market with over 1,300 million people and prospects of becoming the world's largest economy. "If every Chinese person ate a single avocado per year, they would consume almost our entire annual harvest." He explained that after avocado growers discovered the potential of those markets, an export campaign to Japan was started and they are currently working very hard in providing information to Chinese consumers, among whom the fruit is still rather unknown.
In the meantime, Mexico strives to increase its production volumes, working to this end with producers in Jalisco and Sinaloa, as reported by the NAC.
