Mexico is “really the driving force in the U.S. avocado market these days, representing over two-thirds of the volume sold,” said Giovanni Cavaletto, vice president of operations at Index Fresh in Bloomington, CA, Oct. 9.

Index Fresh, which marked its 100th anniversary this year, sources avocados from Mexico as well as Chile, Peru and California. Index Fresh President and CEO Dana Thomas told The Produce News earlier this year that as demand for avocados in the United States continues to rise, Index continues growing its programs in all countries.

He said that the big story with regard to the U.S. avocado industry is the continued increase in demand for avocados in the United States and the corresponding growth of the business. “We feel there is strong demand out there, and it continues to grow, fueled by all those great things” that are coming to light about the nutritional and health benefits of avocados.

An Index Fresh display unit for bagged avocados in the ‘Avo Buddies’ brand. (Photo courtesy of Index Fresh)For the 2014-15 season, “we anticipate significant growth in the avocado deal,” particularly out of Mexico, Cavaletto said Oct. 9. “There are 15 percent more acres certified for export to the United States” in the Mexican state of Michoaçan, “so we should continue to see robust growth in the Mexican avocado category.”

Last year, the Mexican Hass Avocado Importers Association and APEAM, the association of avocado growers, packers and exporters in Michoaçan “formed an alliance called Avocados from Mexico” to promote Mexican avocados in the United states, he said. “The funds going into this are really going to drive a huge increase in Mexican avocado advertising this year, which is going to be great.” There will be “opportunities for promotions all year round” for several different holidays and special occasions, most notably Super Bowl and Cinco de Mayo, he added.

There is also “some anticipation of a proposed rule coming out of the U.S. Department of Agriculture opening up access of Mexican avocados to the U.S. market beyond the state of Michoaçan,” Cavaletto continued. That would include, but not necessarily be limited to, avocado groves in the state of Jalisco. At Index, “we are keeping a very close eye on that, and we are well positioned if that were to happen. We have been working in Jalisco for three years now,“ primarily sourcing for “our customers located both in Asia and in Canada, so we’ve got some long-standing relationships with those growers,” Cavaletto noted.

Some members of the Index Fresh sales team had recently returned from Asia Fruit Logistica and confirmed an anticipated “continued increase in demand in that part of the world for Mexican avocados,” he said. “It has been a lot of fun over the last three seasons to see that business take off the way it has.”

If the USDA does decide “to broaden access” to the U.S. market for avocados from Mexico “beyond the state of Michoaçan,” Cavaletto said, “that will make Mexico that much more of a year-round supplier of avocados.” Currently, “there is a little bit of an off-season in the summertime,” but “we believe that opening up other states” which have different seasonalities for their crops “is going to help Mexico fill out the calendar even better than right now. As it is, they are the only country of origin that consistently ships 52 weeks out of the year.”

Index has exclusive relationships in Mexico “with some of the packers down there,” he said.

The company continues expanding its value-added programs, including bagging and ripening, Cavaletto said. Currently “we are expanding our ripening capacity in Texas, which will help us improve ours service to retail and foodservice customers in the Midwest.”

On the bagging front, he said, “we continue to build on our ‘Avo Buddies’ program. The bags bearing the “Avo Buddies” brand were designed originally “to sell multiples” in smaller fruit sizes such as 96s and 84s, but the program “has really taken off beyond that. We can put the ‘Avo Buddies’ together for any bagging configuration that a retailer wants, whether that is two size 32 avocados or two pounds of size 96 avocados. We are very flexible in working on those value-added programs.”