Documentation
Scope
This data product combines data from ERS, USDA's Animal and
Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), the United Nations Food
and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the World Bank. Current
(2012) data provide information on which countries producing
specific fresh fruits and vegetables were eligible to export to the
United States as of June 2012. Also available are data on
eligibility in June of 2008 through 2011 and February of 2007. Data
on the absolute and relative importance of these countries in
international fruit and vegetable production and trade,
individually and in aggregate, are also included. The development
status of the countries that are eligible to export to the United
States is indicated, along with the ranking of each commodity in
U.S. production and disappearance data.
Commodity
Coverage
The commodities in this data product include 29 fruits and 28
vegetables for which ERS conducts market analysis. These
commodities are included in the Census of Agriculture, which is
published by USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service
(NASS), and represent the commodities Americas consumed most.
Included here are only those fruits and vegetables sold and
consumed fresh. This data product does not include dry edible beans
nor fruits and vegetables that have been dried, canned, or
otherwise processed. The
Commodity Concordance 
provides detailed information on how product categories are defined
in this data product compared to definitions used by APHIS, FAO and
ERS in other data products. When possible, eligibility, production,
and export data are presented for each commodity separately.
For more information on individual commodities, see the ERS Fruit and
Tree Nuts and Vegetables and Pulses topics.
In this data product, melons and olives are classified as fruit. In
ERS market analysis, olives are classified as fruit and melons as
vegetables.
Commodity
Disappearance, Production Data, and Ranking
ERS calculates product availability or disappearance data for
fresh fruits and vegetables, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and
mushrooms in similar ways. Domestic production numbers are added to
imports to obtain a total supply figure. The U.S. export volume is
subtracted from this total supply to calculate net domestic use
that is then divided by the July 1 estimate of U.S. population
(including overseas Armed Forces). The disappearance data obtained
this way are the per capita proxy for consumption. In the case of
commodities that can be used for seed, such as potatoes, a seed use
estimate is also subtracted from total production. For mushrooms, a
population estimate at January 1 is used instead of July 1 to
account for mushroom seasonality. For more information on
calculation of disappearance data, see Food Availability:
Documentation.
In the summary tables for Fruits and Vegetables , commodities were ranked by their
disappearance data for 2011 according to the Food Availability
Spreadsheets. The disappearance numbers in each summary table
represent the ranking of each commodity within the subgroup of
either Fruits or Vegetables.
The U.S. production quantities for the commodities in this data
product were taken from the Fruit and Tree Nuts Yearbook and Vegetables and Melons Yearbook data tables.
Production quantities for 2011 were sorted and ranked to determine
the relative production rank of each commodity within the Fruit or
Vegetable subgroup.
Country
Eligibility
APHIS is the source of data on countries eligible to export
fresh fruits and vegetables to the United States. The phytosanitary
requirements for each country and commodity are published as final
rules in the Code of Federal Regulations (7CFR 319.56
Subpart-Fruits and Vegetables or Q56). These rules are developed
throughout the year and are subject to change. For the most current
information on commodities eligible to import from a specific
country, contact APHIS.
APHIS publishes proposed and final rules in the Federal
Register for public comment, in accordance with the
Administrative Procedure Act. A simplified summary of the
rulemaking process followed by APHIS is presented in the chart Rule
Development and Clearance Process. On June 17, 2007, APHIS
announced revisions to Q56 that will simplify and expedite the
APHIS process for approving new imports and pest-free areas, but do
not alter how the risks associated with fruits and vegetables are
evaluated or mitigated. More information on these revisions is
available at the APHIS Quarantine 56 Newsroom.
The commodities eligible to enter the United States from each
country are listed in the Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Import Manual, 
which covers all fresh fruits and
vegetables imported for consumption. The manual also contains
detailed post-harvest treatment requirements and port-of-entry and
distribution restrictions for imported fresh fruits and
vegetables.
It is important to note that selected commodities may be
exported only from certain areas in the producing country that are
certified as being free of specific pests of concern. For example,
avocados from Mexico can only be exported from producers located in
the state of Michoacán. The APHIS Fruit and Vegetable Import Requirement
(FAVIR) provides detailed information by commodity on which
areas within a country are eligible to export to the United States
or are regulated differently than the rest of the country. Because
there is no international source for production and trade data by
region within countries, this data product uses national totals
published by FAO. This implies that the statistics on the
percentage of production or trade eligible to enter the United
States should be considered an upper bound.
Country
Classification
The term "country" in this data product refers to countries,
areas, and territories that APHIS identifies as eligible to export
fresh fruits and vegetables to the United States. Available FAO
production and trade data for these exporters are reported to
provide information on their absolute and relative importance in
global markets for fresh fruits and vegetables.
FAO does not always report separate production and trade
statistics for 21 eligible exporters because they are territories,
departments, or another type of political dependency of a United
Nations member (see APHIS - FAO Country Concordance). For example, French Guiana is a
department of France. Data for Hong Kong and Taiwan are reported
separately from data for mainland China in some FAOSTAT
databases, e.g., detailed production data in ProdStat, but not
others. See FAOSTAT Country Classifications for more
information.
Country Income
Level
Countries were identified as high- or middle-to-low income using
the country classification developed and published
by the World
Bank (see 2012 World Bank List of Economies ) . The World Bank classifies member
countries and other countries with populations greater than 30,000
as low income, lower middle income, upper middle income, and high
income based on per capita gross national income (GNI). World Bank
classification criteria and data on per capita gross domestic
product (GDP) from the Central Intelligence Agency's World Factbook were used to identify the
income level of 12 countries-Anguilla, British Virgin Islands, Cook
Islands, Curacao, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique,
Montserrat, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Martin, Taiwan, and Turks and
Caicos-not included in World Bank data.
FAO Data
Data on production quantities, export quantities and export
value for each commodity and country was obtained from FAOSTAT, FAO's
statistical databases. FAO compiles data from approximately 200
core reporting nations.
FAO data only include production and export quantities of 0.5
metric tons and greater and totals and percentages reflect this
limitation. In the Excel files for individual commodities, a "0"
for production and/or export quantity includes volumes less than
0.5 metric tons.
In a few cases, countries exporting a commodity do not produce
it domestically, according to FAO production and trade data. In
other instances, the quantity of reported exports exceeds the
quantity of reported domestic production. These anomalies in the
data could be due to transshipments or other reasons. For more
information, see "Notes to the WATM" on the FAOSTAT World Agricultural Trade Matrix (WATM)
page.
The percent of world production and export quantities eligible
to enter the United States was calculated by dividing the sum of
eligible production and exports by total world production and
exports, respectively. These percentages will exceed the
percentages of global production and exports that are actually
shipped to the United States since countries generally do not
export all that they produce and have multiple trading
partners.
The median and average (mean) world production and export
quantities are calculated for each commodity for all countries in
the FAOSTAT database. The median-the value for which half of all
values in a series are greater and half are smaller-and average-the
sum of all numbers in a series divided by the total number of
entries in that series-is reported for both production and exports
to provide reference for the relative ranking of those countries
eligible to export to the United States.
For detailed information on U.S. imports and exports, see USDA
Foreign Agricultural Service's U.S. Trade Internet System. For
summary information, see ERS's Foreign
Agricultural Trade of the United States data product.
Other Links
World Bank, Data and Statistics
contains country data derived, either directly or indirectly, from
official statistical systems of national governments. Includes the
World Development Indicators report and database.
USDA
Foreign Agricultural Service, U.S. Trade Internet System
provides U.S. trade statistics on agricultural, fish, forest, and
textile products.