Inflation ‘forgives’ the avocado
Inflation has also ‘forgave’ some of the star ingredients of the season, such as avocados. Unlike last year, when avocados reached 90 pesos per kilo, now guacamole will have a stellar place in meetings to watch the Super Bowl.
In the last two decades this dish has become part of the seasonal menu, in addition to wings and roast beef.
“If there is no guacamole, there is no game,” says Armando López Orduna, director of the association, who comments that for this game, they sent 130,000 tons of avocado from Michoacán and Jalisco to satisfy the demand that is generated during the Super Bowl.
This figure is similar to that registered in 2021, after last year they had a drop in production due to weather conditions, which reduced the supply and affected the price.
Avocado consumption has grown, both in Mexico and in the United States. While in the year 2000 the per capita consumption of the fruit in Mexico was half a kilo, now it is four kilos per person, according to data from the Association of Avocado Producers and Packers-Exporters of Mexico. (APEAM).
To boost avocado consumption in the United States, Mexican producers receive American chefs so they can learn about different ways in which it can be prepared, beyond guacamole.
Between January and November 2022, of the total fresh avocado imported into the United States, 82.1% came from Mexico, which generated income of 2,741 million dollars, while the prepared or preserved was 97.3%, with a value of 525.6 million dollars, according to data from the United States Agriculture Service.
“There is already a constant demand. We are the number one country that supplies avocados to the United States market and we make efforts to be present and maintain shipments of our fruit to that market,” says the director of APEAM.