OTTAWA: Canada has reached an agreement with Mexico’s Servicio Nacional de Sanidad, Inocuidad y Calidad Agroalimentaria that will allow shipments of Canadian fresh potatoes for consumption or processing to enter the Mexican market, opening a new export channel for a crop sector that shipped more than C$3.7 billion in potatoes and potato products abroad in 2024/25. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency announced the arrangement on March 12 and said it will work with growers and packers as implementation steps move forward.
The market access measure follows months of bilateral talks between Ottawa and Mexico City. Canadian officials tied the breakthrough to discussions launched during Agriculture Minister Heath MacDonald’s October 2025 trade mission to Mexico, when the two countries agreed to deepen regulatory and technical cooperation under the Canada-Mexico Action Plan 2025-2028. Those talks continued during a Canadian trade visit to Mexico in February 2026, according to the food inspection agency.
The decision opens a fresh channel in a trading relationship where Canada has already built a sizable presence in processed potato products but not in fresh shipments. Mexico bought C$77.7 million worth of Canadian frozen potatoes in the 2024/25 marketing year, making it Canada’s second-largest foreign market for that category by value after the United States. By contrast, Canada’s fresh potato export trade remained heavily concentrated in the U.S. and a smaller group of Caribbean and Asian markets.
Market access broadens potato trade
Canada exported C$510.8 million worth of fresh potatoes in 2024/25, with the United States accounting for 92.9% of that value and 90.9% of export volume. Overall potato and potato product exports rose 2% from a year earlier to C$3.73 billion, while potatoes remained Canada’s fifth-largest crop and its largest vegetable crop by farm cash receipts. The federal government said the new Mexican opening supports efforts to diversify sales beyond existing major destinations.
Mexico is already a large fresh potato importing market and has historically relied on a single supplier. A U.S. Department of Agriculture report published in June 2025 said Mexico’s fresh potato imports for the 2025/26 marketing year were forecast at 225,000 metric tons and that the United States had been Mexico’s sole supplier of fresh potato imports for the last 20 years. The new arrangement gives Canadian exporters a formal route into that market for fresh potatoes destined for food use or processing.
Implementation moves to growers and regulators
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said the agreement covers potatoes for consumption or processing and that it will work closely with the potato sector in the coming months as next steps are implemented. The agency said it supports market access by giving growers and packing facilities guidance on foreign import requirements and by verifying compliance with importing countries’ rules through inspections. Commercial shipments will depend on exporters meeting the conditions set out under the new access terms.
The potato measure adds to a series of agricultural trade steps announced between the two countries since late 2025, including work on sanitary and phytosanitary measures, electronic certification for some plant products and eased import terms for eligible apples from eastern Canada. Those measures form part of a broader bilateral push to deepen agricultural trade links and streamline cross-border market access. For Canada’s potato industry, the latest agreement formally opens Mexico to Canadian fresh potato exports under the new bilateral arrangements. – By Content Syndication Services.