Avocado packing operations from Mexico to the United States partially resume

Fruit shipments from Uruapan, Michoacán, have partially resumed after a ban imposed last week due to security concerns.

Last week, the United States temporarily suspended avocado imports from Mexico due to security concerns in Michoacán. This decision was based on reports of threats against Mexican inspectors from the U.S. Department of Agriculture who monitor the quality of the product before it enters the country.

In Mexico, the situation has begun to partially normalize. According to sources familiar with the matter, as described to Avobook, 20 of the 90 packing facilities belonging to the Association of Avocado Producers and Exporters of Mexico (APEAM) in Uruapan have resumed operations.

One of the situations that has facilitated this reactivation is the location of APEAM's headquarters in Uruapan, which avoids dangerous travel for the engineers who are part of the control chain and shipments of fruit to the United States.

With the goal of fully normalizing shipments as soon as possible, meetings are being held between APEAM, the government of the state of Michoacán, and the US embassy.

The situation is expected to stabilize in the coming days, with the implementation of new safety protocols for engineers in other areas of Michoacán.

According to some exporters, there was very little fruit harvesting last week in Michoacán, and what little fruit was transported to Jalisco for packing. It wasn't until Saturday that they were able to ship the fruit they had in cold storage, which had been harvested the previous week before the U.S. market closed. This allowed them to ship 250 truckloads of avocados.

These shipments supplemented the existing inventory of Mexican fruit that was lagging behind in the United States.