Since 2015, growth of avocado imports to the US have slowed. The rest of the world has taken advantage.
For example, imports to China, where the avocados are known as “cow-butter fruit,” grew from 154 metric tons in 2012 to over 31,000 in 2017. Other countries that have seen similar increases in recent years include Saudi Arabia, Ireland and South Korea.
Supported by the North American Free Trade Agreement and the end to the US prohibition on Mexican imports, the volume of avocados imported to the USA soared from just 60,000 tons in 2001 to almost 870,000 tons in 2015. A growing Mexican-American population in the USA and changes in attitudes towards mono-saturated fats, probably contributed to the growth in imports.
