Vietnam finds US-Mexico spat an issue to augment avocado-export to US market

Vietnam to augment avocado-export to US market after Trump threatened to veil US-Mexico border

Vietnam is strategizing its plan to increase its export of avocados to the United States, the Southeast Asian country said on Thursday.

The announcement surfaced after the U.S. President Donald Trump's threatened to shut the U.S.-Mexico border that raised fears among the American consumers.

Avocado prices in the United States jumped by nearly 50% in April on fears that Trump would halt shipments from Mexico, which accounts for some 80% of its supply. Both processors and wholesalers began to stockpile the fruit as a result. The United States imported more than 900,000 tonnes of Mexican avocados last year worth nearly $2.1 billion, 10 times the value it buys from the rest of the world, according to crop forecaster Gro Intelligence.

The United States Department of Agriculture announced that the country paid USD 2.35 billion in 2018 to import 1.04 million tons of avocados that were almost consumed in big supermarkets. The export of avocado to the US must meet the standards of maturity, colour, weight, diameter, undamaged and clean fruit, not exposed to moist environments, etc., as reported by Saigon Online.

Avocados, typically used in guacamole or spread on toast, could be a high export earner for Vietnam, the government said in a statement on its website. Avocado consumption is on the rise in Vietnam as living standards improve, fuelling interest amongst domestic buyers.

"Avocados are increasingly seen as a quality fruit that can be used in cooking and beauty products for women," said Le Van Duc, deputy head of the department of crop production at Vietnam's Agriculture Ministry. "The area of avocado plantation in Vietnam is rising due to that higher demand," Duc told Reuters by phone.

That trend has also been driven by weak coffee prices, which have prompted Vietnamese farmers to switch to other crops, including avocados, according to Duc's department. Coffee prices hit their lowest in six years this month on fresh concerns over the U.S.-China trade war and strong sales from Brazil.

Vietnam already exports a small volume of avocados to the European Union but has not yet managed to enter the U.S. market, which is dominated by Mexican supply. Duc said it was too early to tell if Vietnam's drive to export avocados to the United States will be successful.

"There will be lengthy negotiations, and more calculations are needed regarding the possible production scale and the quality to compete with other producing countries," Duc said.

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