WASHING TON: Avocados have overtaken bananas as the most valuable fruit import in the United States, accounting for 15% of the total last year which itself hit a new high of US$18.1 billion.
This represents almost a US$6 billion rise since 2013, largely driven by imports from Mexico which have more than doubled in the same timeframe and also increased 37% last year to reach US$7.2 billion.
According to recently published statistics by ITC Trade Map for 2017, bananas still remained the leading fruit import commodity in terms of volume with a 54% uptick to 4.8 million metric tons (MT), but this was a rebound to fairly normal levels after a a sharp decline in 2016.
It should be noted that the Trade Map list also includes cashew nuts, which were the fourth-largest commodity in value with a 28% rise to US$1.6 billion. This explains much of Vietnam’s phenomenal rise to become the country’s fourth-largest supplier.
