Mexico Strawberry Exports

As Florida strawberry growers have been busy this growing season battling weather, pests, and diseases, Mexico has officially been ranked to top exporter of Strawberries.

For the 2020 growing season, Mexico beat out Spain as the top producing strawberry country. Exports raised over US $851 million last year, an increase of 12.4% in 2019. Spain has held the #1 position for almost 20 years, while The United States was in third place this year with $477 million. While Florida might be home to the winter Strawberry capital of the world, California is the largest strawberry producer in the country, with almost 1.5 billion pounds produced in 2020 alone.

The Mexican strawberry industry is dependent on U.S. demand: of all its strawberry exports last year, 99.3% went to the United States, which is the world’s biggest importer. Spain largely exports to other European countries.

The Mexican market overcame obstacles caused by the pandemic such as the availability of labor and the hardships faced by the food-service industry, where 15% of the fruit is normally sold. While strawberries are often considered an impulse buy, demand remained robust amid producer fears that wider unemployment would make strawberries less attainable for consumers.