In addition to the avocado, one of Mexico's most important agricultural exports to the US are its tomatoes and if US President Donald Trump increases import taxes to that country, the fruit would have to increase its cost.
Raul Perez Bedolla, head of Alcano, said that a renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the imposition of taxes could change the pace of Mexico's exports, and would increase prices, especially for the US market.
"If they put a tariff on Mexican tomatoes, the people that buy it in their supermarket chains will have to pay 25% or 30% more. It's not easy to put a tariff on imports because you hit your own people and there are protests on both sides, from consumers and from producers," he said.
However, he said, despite political situations both countries have maintained their relationship with tomato producers.
"All the commercial agriculture of the northern states (in Mexico) is for the United States, so producers have been making commercial and international contracts with them for the past 100 years. Their main production (of tomato) is for that country, not for the Supply Center of Mexico City, the same as the avocado," said Perez Bedolla.
In January 2017, the Republican president said he wanted to place a 20% tax on all imports coming from Mexico to pay for the large border wall he intends to build between the two countries.
That would generate revenues of $ 10 billion per year from Mexico, said White House spokesman Sean Spicer.
According to data from the Bank of Mexico (Banxico), Mexico tomato exports amounted to 6,599 million dollars in 2016; its main shipping destinations were the United States and Canada.
This amount was almost 14% higher than the exports achieved in the previous year.
Mexico is amongst the top tomato exporting countries in the world and accounts for approximately 21% of the international market, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural Development, Fisheries and Food (SAGARPA).
Most of the producers are in the National Tomato Product System, which is made up of 14 state committees, operating in Sinaloa, Sonora, Baja California, Chiapas, Durango, Guanajuato, Michoacan, Morelos, Nuevo Leon, Oaxaca, Puebla, San Luis Potosi, Veracruz, and Zacatecas.
"Sinaloa is one of the main suppliers of tomatoes to the United States," said Perez Bedolla.
