Before getting hit with fees for alleged dumping, U.S. apple exporters recorded a big hike in shipments to Mexico last year as the country lifted its fruit imports overall.

According to statistics service SIAVI, Mexico's fruit imports rose 9% year-on-year to reach 628,504 metric tons (MT), which was also more than 10,000MT greater than the 2013 figure.

Almost half of the volume came from apples which registered an increase of 30%, with the vast majority coming from the U.S. and smaller supplies exported from Chile.

However, the next three leading fruit import crops declined in arrivals with strawberries down 12% at 139,624MT, pears dropping slightly by 2% to 85,032MT, and table grape imports cut by 5% to 67,970MT.

The remainder of fruit had much lower numbers but significant gains were seen for kiwifruit, peaches/nectarines and cherries, at rates of 35%, 18% and 48% respectively. Meanwhile, plum imports were down 18%.

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