The U.S. Department of Agriculture has added a weekly report to keep tabs on seasonal fruit and vegetable imports from Mexico and Canada.
The U.S. Mexico Canada Agreement Seasonal Perishable Products Weekly Update follows up on a Trump administration plan released in September to protect U.S. growers, primarily in Florida and Georgia, from the effects of imported produce when U.S. growers are marketing domestic fruits and vegetables.
“With the impact of COVID-19 on the produce industry, it is critical that we keep an eye on marketplace trends for seasonal and perishable products,” Greg Ibach, USDA undersecretary for marketing and regulatory programs, said in a news release. “This report will help the federal agencies involved in overseeing the supply chain understand import trends as we work to address industry concerns.”
The report will be posted on the AMS website by the end of each Friday, or the last day of the week when a federal holiday falls on a Friday. It will be posted on the AMS’ specialty reports webpage.
The report is prepared “in close partnership” with the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) and the Department of Commerce and is based on data provided by USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service and its Specialty Crops Market News Division. A USDA spokesman said the AMS already collects the information included in the report, but it was not specifically broken out and analyzed with additional commentary.
The first report was issued in December, and in 3 ½ pages focuses on imports of asparagus and blueberries from Mexico, and bell peppers, strawberries and tomatoes from Mexico and Canada.
The Sept. 1 report outlined a plan on responding to pressures that U.S. growers faced from imports of seasonal produce and followed two virtual hearings overseen by the USTR, USDA and Commerce Department, in which domestic growers, legislators and other testified that imports harm domestic growers of seasonal produce.
The report “highlighted the need for a near-real time market report to provide USTR, Commerce and the public with the volume and prices for selected seasonal and perishable commodities,” according to the news release.
