US Potatoes Face New Requirements from Mexico Importers

Fresh intel coming from USDA’s representatives reveals that Mexico is demanding a new requirement for additional packer site visits during the US spud growing season, a demand that was not in the work plan published last year.

USDA officials disclosed Mexico’s new demands on February 17, 2022, during a web seminar with industry officials, Kam Quarles, CEO of the National Potato Council (NPC) said, according to The Packer.

Given the likely timing of these visits, the National Potato Council chair mentioned that fresh shipments to Mexico could be delayed until fall or later. Expanded Mexican market access could be worth USD150m to US cultivar farmers.

Not so long ago, Mexican officials had said January or February 2022 would mark the beginning for full market access for US potatoes, the NPC official added.

In November 2021, Mexico’s National Service for Agricultural Health, Food Safety, and AgriQuality published the phytosanitary Requirement Sheet for US potato shipments to the entirety of Mexico.

The publishing of phytosanitary requirements followed the April 2021 Mexican Supreme Court decision that ruled by a unanimous vote of five to zero in favor of overturning a 2017 lower court decision that prevented the Mexican federal government from implementing regulations to allow for the importation of fresh US potatoes throughout the country.

For the past two decades, Mexico has limited US fresh potato exports to a region within 26 kilometers of the US border.