Agricultural imports from Latin America and the Caribbean grew at a compound annual growth rate of 6.9 percent in the 12 years following the Great Recession, much faster than the global rate of 5.6 percent, says the USDA in a new report: “Primarily, this import growth was a story about Mexico.”
“During the period studied, U.S. agriculture imports from Mexico grew faster than corresponding imports from most other countries in LAC [Latin American and Caribbean], including almost all the other free-trade partners of the United States. As a result, Mexico’s share of U.S. agricultural imports from LAC [in terms of value] increased from 44.1 percent to 58.2 percent,” said the Economic Research Service.
Mexico is the leading source in the world of U.S. agricultural imports. And it is the largest food and agriculture trade partner with the United States with two-way trade forecast at $74.7 billion in the fiscal year ending on Sept. 30, nearly $8 billion ahead of No. 2 Canada.
The USDA report, “Changes in U.S. agricultural imports from Latin America and the Caribbean,” underlined Mexico’s growing importance in U.S. food and agriculture trade. It has been part of free-trade agreements with the United States since the 1994 inauguration of NAFTA.
In the years between the end of the Great Recession and the arrival of the pandemic, agricultural imports from the LAC grew to 37.9 percent of the U.S. ag import total—a 5-point increase. Mexico’s share of total imports was 22.2 percent in fiscal 2020. This year it would be 23.3 percent, according to USDA data.
Consumer-oriented products account for $8 of every $10 in agricultural imports from the LAC at the start of this decade, up from $7.20 of every $10 at the end of the Great Recession. Mexico was the leading supplier of the five products with the greatest growth in sales: fresh berries, tequila, fresh avocados, beef and beef products, and beer.
“The relative availability of farm labor in the United States versus Mexico is a long-standing concern of U.S. agricultural producers, especially in labor-intensive activities such as fruit and vegetable production,” wrote the three authors of the ERS report. “This concern was raised again in a September 2022 request for an investigation of seasonal and perishable products from Mexico.”
For much of this year, the United State and Mexico have squabbled over Mexico’s decision to ban imports of GMO corn for human consumption and to phase out the use of the weedkiller glyphosate, often used in conjunction with GMO corn varieties, by April 2024. Mexico is the No. 1 market for U.S. corn exports, which are mostly genetically modified and in Mexico mostly are fed to livestock. The United States was an early proponent of agricultural biotechnology and defends the safety of crops grown with genetically engineered seeds.
To read the report, click here.