IndexBox has just published a new report: ‘U.S. – Vegetable – Market Analysis, Forecast, Size, Trends and Insights.’ Here is a summary of the report’s key findings.

The volume of imports in the U.S. fresh vegetable market is forecast to increase from 8.9M tonnes in 2021 to 9.3M tonnes in 2022. In monetary terms, imports should decrease from $10.5B to $10.3B with an expected price decline. Throughout January-October 2021, American purchases totalled 6.9M tonnes, which was 5.5% more than in the same period last year. Mexico, Canada and Peru remain the key suppliers for the U.S., accounting for 95% of its total import volume. 

U.S. Vegetable Imports 

From January to October 2021, the U.S. imported 6.9M tonnes of fresh vegetables, a 5.5%-increase compared to the same period last year. According to a recent USDA forecast, American purchases are set to keep growing from approximately 8.91M tonnes by the end of this year to 9.3M tonnes in 2022. The average import prices are forecast to decrease, and the total value of supplies into the U.S. to fall by 2% y-o-y to $10.3B next year.

Last year, the amount of vegetables imported into the U.S. totaled 8.1M tonnes, growing by 2.7% compared with the year before. In value terms, vegetable imports reached $10.4B (IndexBox estimates).

In 2020, Mexico (6.1M tonnes) constituted the largest vegetable supplier to the U.S., with a 75% share of total imports. Moreover, vegetable imports from Mexico exceeded the figures recorded by the second-largest supplier, Canada (1.4M tonnes), fourfold.

Over the past year, the growth rate of volume from Mexico amounted to +2.5%. The remaining supplying countries recorded the following average annual rates of imports growth: Canada (+7.0% per year) and Peru (-4.7% per year).

In value terms, Mexico ($7.3B) constituted the largest supplier of vegetables to the U.S., comprising 70% of total imports. The second position in the ranking was occupied by Canada ($1.9B), with an 18% share of total imports.

The average vegetable import price stood at $1,294 per tonne in 2020, increasing by 8.6% against the previous year. Average prices varied somewhat amongst the major supplying countries. The country with the highest price was Peru ($1,759 per tonne), while the price for Mexico ($1,206 per tonne) was amongst the lowest. The most notable rate of growth in terms of prices was attained by Mexico, while the prices for the other significant suppliers experienced more modest paces of growth.

Source: IndexBox Platform