The avocado fruit belongs to the genus Persea in the Lauraceae family. The tree is typically cultivated in Central Mexico. In 2019, Mexico accounted for the highest share in global production of avocados with a production volume amounting to about 2.3 million tons. The Dominican Republic and Peru were also ranked among the major avocado producing countries with a production volume of about 661 thousand and 535 thousand tons in 2019 respectively. In the same year, Israel was listed as the tenth leading avocado producing country with a production volume of about 138 thousand tons.
Even though the fruit was introduced to the consumer market some time ago, it has recently become incredibly popular among Americans. The retail sales of avocados in the United States amounted to 2.6 billion U.S. dollars in 2020. That year, avocado was one of the leading product categories in the fresh department of the United States, based on a sales growth of 7 percent.
The average consumption of avocados in the United States amounted to 2.6 billion pounds in 2019. A recent survey regarding the main drivers for buying avocados in the U.S. revealed that about 74 percent of consumers believe that avocados are healthy and some 69 percent of respondents think that the fruit has good fats. Besides the growing trend in avocado shopping, not all consumers are convinced to add it to their shopping basket. About 62 percent of of respondents cited "too perishable" as a main barrier for buying avocados, while around 78 percent considered avocadoes to be frequently "too expensive" to buy.
