Metro Capital

Over the last 10 years, the number of fresh produce exports from Latin America have been growing steadily and this trend looks to be confirmed in the future. Overall export volumes from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Peru have increased for all fruit categories and to all markets, rising from 45.7 mt to almost 82 mt, almost doubling in a decade.

Avocado

Due to its climatic characteristics, Latin America is one of the main avocado producing regions. In Mexico, the production of the vegetable in the crop year 2016/17 were estimated to amount to 1.8 million metric tons. The harvested area of avocado in countries such as Peru, Colombia and Dominican Republic were the highest in the region.

Mango

In terms of production volume, mango continued to rank as the predominant tropical fruit variety, due to the commodity’s popularity in India, where an estimated 38 percent of global production originates. Global production of mango accounted for more than half of total global major tropical fruit production in 2018.

Lemon

Among continents, suppliers in Europe sold the highest dollar worth of exported lemons and limes during 2019 with shipments valued at $1.4 billion or 41.8% of the global total. In second place were North American exporters at 21.4% while 13.4% of worldwide lemons and limes shipments originated from Asia. This compares to 13.2% for Latin America excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean. Smaller percentages came from Africa (9.9%) and Oceania (0.3%) led by New Zealand and Australia.

Coffee

There are few crops in the world able to claim such a global and undisputable popularity as coffee. Despite the plant being discovered in Ethiopia centuries ago, in modern days the global coffee scene revolves around Latin America. Coffee is a big market in the region, as many countries both produce and heavily consume it. In fact, Latin America accounted for nearly 60 percent of worldwide coffee production in 2019.

Cocoa

The development of Latin America’s cacao and cocoa industry is variously touted as a means to boost the economy, to reduce dependence on exports of oil and minerals, and to attract Andean farmers away from growing coca. Progress in several countries is relatively promising, though diverse risks to the quality and health of crops mean that any gains remain somewhat fragile.

Chili

International sales of exported sweet peppers (also called bell peppers) and chili peppers totaled US$5.8 billion during 2019. That dollar amount reflects an average 27.7% increase in value from $4.5 billion in 2015. From 2018 to 2019, global sales of sweet peppers appreciated by 4.5%