With a range of U.S.-imposed tariffs complicating northbound trade, Mexico is turning its attention southward as it welcomes Brazil as a new market for avocados, one of its strongest exports.

Brazil has adopted a new protocol that allows for the import of Mexican avocados, Mexico’s Agriculture Minister Julio Berdegué Sacristán announced on Tuesday. 

“Good news! The Brazilian Agriculture Ministry has informed me that it has published a protocol allowing for the importation of Mexican avocados, the best in the world, to [our] sister nation, to the delight of its 200 million consumers,” Berdegué wrote on the X social media site. 

Mexico is the largest global producer of avocados, contributing around 34% of the global volume, according to figures from Mexico’s National Committee of the Avocado Product System. The west-central Mexican state of Michoacán contributes around 84.9% of the country’s avocado production by volume, according to Mexico’s Agriculture Ministry. 

Other avocado-producing states include Jalisco, México state, Nayarit, Morelos and Guerrero.

The new Brazil market, though significant, isn’t likely to put much of a dent in the United States’ lead in imports of Mexican avocados. The U.S. receives 80% of Mexico’s avocado exports by volume, followed by Canada with 7% and Japan with 3%, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. 

Brazil itself also grows avocados. Production of the fruit there has risen by 74.09% over the past five years, increasing from 242,723 tonnes in 2019 to 422,545 tonnes in 2023. The state of São Paulo contributes roughly 50% of the national total.

However, rising domestic demand has outpaced local production in recent years, which has led the South American country to import more avocados. 

The implementation of President Claudia Sheinbaum’s Plan México has supported initiatives that broaden Mexico’s trade links, including with South America. 

Two-way trade between Mexico and Brazil was worth more than US $16 billion in 2023, according to the Economy Ministry. Brazil sold more than $12 billion worth of goods to Mexico, while Mexico’s exports to South America’s largest country totaled just over $4 billion.

Brazilian and Mexican authorities are in talks to revise the current trade agreement between the two countries, which was signed in the early 2000s. 

With reports from Sin Embargo and El Universal