The importance of Mexico as a supplier of avocados to the U.S. market is enormous. As demand for avocados in the United States has grown, Mexico’s exports to the United States have kept pace, accounting for roughly two-thirds of the total volume in the market.

The Mexican program is similarly important for Mission Produce in Oxnard, CA, which has long had its own packinghouse in Uruapan, Michoacán, Mexico and last year added a second packinghouse in the avocado grove-covered hills of the state of Michoacán.

From its facilities in Mexico, Mission exports avocados not just to the United States but also to Canada, Japan, Hong Kong, China and Europe, according to Domestic Sales Manager David Fausset.

He expects the total volume of avocados coming into the United States for the 2013-14 crop year to be about the same as the prior year. Yields are expected to be down little, but production for acreage newly certified to come to the United States should compensate.

The Mission Produce headquarters in Oxnard, CA.In 2012-13, with a large California crop and increased production out of Peru in the spring and summer months, Mexican growers shipped more heavily during the earlier part of the season and then lighter during the spring and summer months, Fausset explained.

For the new crop year, he said, the situation is reversed, with Mexico shipping lighter at the start of the season as California finished its big crop and the expectation of going stronger next spring coming into what is expected to be a smaller California crop.

He expects the strongest volume from December onward, with plenty of Mexican fruit in the market for Super Bowl weekend and all the other promotional opportunities “that will come in the first six months of 2014.”

On Oct. 14, the company’s 2013 California crop was “for all intents and purposes” finished for the year. “Our final pack of California fruit will be this week,” he said. “So Mexico, really, is the main player.”

Mission also has Chilean fruit, but “Chile’s volume gets so spread between Europe and their own domestic consumption that there is a lot less Chilean volume that comes into the United States” than in years past, and how much does come depends largely on market conditions.

“We have some Chilean fruit that is [arriving] this week,” he said, “and we are going to bring that in, in controlled supplies. Then we will aggressively bring in Mexican fruit to fill our pipeline.”

Looking to the future, “I think everyone’s big question in the industry” is when and if the neighboring state of Jalisco, also a major avocado-growing area, will be approved to export to the United States, Fausset said. “I don’t really have a clue as to where the progress of that is right now, but I know that is a burning question down in Mexico.

“A lot of us ship from Jalisco” to other areas such as Asia, Europe and Canada, he said, but the fruit “isn’t allowed into the United States yet.” With demand for avocados in the United States continuing to increase year after year, “it is obvious the industry needs more supply” to keep up with that demand.

At Mission, “we continue to see” a trend in the foodservice industry with more and more operators putting avocados on their menus, Fausset said. “I think people really realize the nutritional value. Avocados have gained a lot of recognition” from the research that is being done.

“Foodservice is a key factor right now for us,” he said. “As people go out to the restaurants and eat avocados” in various dishes, “they are wanting to bring those concepts home, which really helps our retail business. It is a good time to be in avocados.”