The Mexican region of Oaxaca plans to expand its agricultural exports, and has recently approved exports of cucumbers to the United States. The volumes involved at 4,500 tons per year are relatively small in the context of the current 691,000 tons exported in the 12 months through January 31, Panjiva data shows.

The U.S. accounted for 99.2% of Mexican cucumber exports in the 12 months through February 28, and volumes have stagnated with growth of just 1.8% vs. the same period a year earlier. The market is highly fragmented, with 485 individual shippers exporting over the past 12 months and the top 20 held only a 46.4% market share.

While cucumbers are hardly likely to be the centerpiece of forthcoming NAFTA renegotiations, the talks will consider agricultural trade more generally. Additionally, as outlined in Panjiva research of March 17, while the Mexican government is taking a hawkish stance with regards to its imports of U.S. agricultural products it will also need to consider its export position too.

Chart segments U.S. imports of cucumbers (HS 0707) by country of origin, except most recent month which uses Mexican export data Source: Panjiva