USA suspends import of avocados after threat call

15-Feb-2022 - Mexico

The world's largest avocado producer, Mexico, says it will not be allowed to ship avocados to the United States until further notice. According to an announcement by the Mexican Ministry of Agriculture, the northern neighboring country stopped imports of the green fruit after a U.S. animal and plant health inspector in the Mexican state of Michoacán received a threatening phone call. The import ban was announced on the weekend of the Super Bowl football finals, of all days, when a particularly large number of people in the U.S. traditionally prepare the avocado cream guacamole.

Michoacán, the only Mexican state fully authorized by U.S. authorities to export avocados, suffers from many acts of violence, as does all of Mexico. Much of the violence is the result of cartels and gangs involved in drug trafficking or kidnapping and distribution battles. The government sent about 1,000 soldiers to Michoacán during the week.

In the past six weeks, producers from the western state had exported 135,000 tons of avocado to the U.S., according to the Agriculture Ministry. In Mexico, where avocados have cultural and economic significance, about 1.5 million tons of avocado are harvested each year.

Michoacán Governor Alfredo Ramírez Bedolla pledged support for avocado producers and packers. "We will take the necessary steps so that exports (...) can resume soon," he wrote on Twitter./mfa/DP/stk (dpa)

Note: This article has been translated using a computer system without human intervention. LUMITOS offers these automatic translations to present a wider range of current news. Since this article has been translated with automatic translation, it is possible that it contains errors in vocabulary, syntax or grammar. The original article in German can be found here.

https://www.yumda.com/en/news/1174781/usa-suspends-import-of-avocados-after-threat-call.html