That dollar amount results from a 23.9% increase from the cost of America’s imported fruits which was $17 billion five years earlier during 2019.
Year over year, US imports of fruits flatlined via a 0.4% gain compared to $21 billion for 2022.
Avocados, bananas and fresh grapes are America’s three most popular imported fruits. Collectively they represented 40.7% of the total value for all fruits imported into the United States during 2023.
America’s Most Beloved Imported Fruits
The following list showcases the top 20 imported fresh or dried fruits most in demand by Americans. Combined, these 15 fruit categories represent 88.1% of the overall cost of fruits imported by the United States in 2023.
- Avocados: US$3.1 billion (14.7% of US-imported fruits)
- Bananas not plantains: $2.8 billion (13.1%)
- Grapes: $2.7 billion (12.9%)
- Fresh raspberries, blackberries, mulberries, loganberries: $2.03 billion (9.6%)
- Fresh cranberries, bilberries: $1.95 billion (9.3%)
- Fresh strawberries: $1.21 billion (5.7%)
- Lemons, limes: $1.09 billion (5.2%)
- Pineapples: $932.4 million (4.4%)
- Guavas, mangoes: $889.3 million (4.2%)
- Melons excluding watermelons: $512.1 million (2.4%)
- Mandarins including tangerines: $499.8 million (2.4%)
- Watermelons: $496.5 million (2.4%)
- Plantains: $388.6 million (1.8%)
- Fresh tamarinds: $350.6 million (1.7%)
- Frozen strawberries: $324.6 million (1.5%)
- Fresh or dried oranges: $255.7 million (1.2%)
- Fresh apples: $220.3 million (1%)
- Fresh kiwifruit: $216.1 million (1%)
- Dried peaches, pears, other fruits: $192.7 million (0.9%)
- Fresh papayas: $165.5 million (0.8%)
Recording double-digit percentage gains among purchases for the top 20 product categories were American imports of plantains (up 49% from 2022), melons excluding watermelons (up 37.4%), fresh tamarinds (up 14.4%), lemons and limes (up 11.8%), then grapes (up 11.7%).
The severest decliners were US imports of frozen strawberries (down -17.9% from 2022), dried peaches, pears and other dried fruits (down -15.5%), mandarins including tangerines (down -13.8%), and fresh kiwifruit (down -11.3%).
Top Suppliers by Country
By value, listed below in descending order are the top 10 countries that sold 90% of total fruits imported by America in 2023.
- Mexico: US$9.5 billion (44.9% of US-imported fruits)
- Peru: $2.3 billion (10.9%)
- Chile: $1.8 billion (8.8%)
- Guatemala: $1.6 billion (7.4%)
- Costa Rica: $1.2 billion (5.7%)
- Vietnam: $715.3 million (3.4%)
- Ecuador: $607 million (2.9%)
- Canada: $515.8 million (2.4%)
- Honduras: $393.5 million (1.9%)
- Colombia: $367.2 million (1.7%)
The fastest-growing top suppliers of fruits imported by the United States over the five-year period starting in 2019 were Colombia (up 87.9%), Peru (up 75.5%), Canada (up 43.8%), Ecuador (up 34.7%), and Mexico (up 28.6%).
Historically, leading US imported fruits from Mexico include avocados and fresh strawberries. Popular American imports from Canada are fresh cranberries and bilberries, cherries, apples and strawberries.
Fresh grapes and cranberries are the most valuable fruits shipped to America from Chile and Peru. Bananas top the list of fruits imported from Guatemala, Ecuador, Honduras and Colombia.
American imports of guavas and mangos top the list of fruits imported from Vietnam. Cranberries, cherries and apples represent the most lucrative fruits imported into America for suppliers in Canada.
See also Bananas Exports by Country, Grapes Exports by Country, Avocados Exports by Country, Pineapples Exports by Country and Apples Exports by Country Plus Average Prices
Research Sources
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Field Listing: Exports – Commodities. Accessed on May 24, 2024
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on May 24, 2024
Wikipedia, Fruit. Accessed on May 24, 2024