A worker labels a boxful of avocados in Uruapan, Mexico on June 3, 2017. The avocados are to be exported to China. Photo: Xinhua

Avocados from California are now available in the Chinese market, the US embassy said Thursday, marking another US agricultural product that is available for Chinese consumers, despite the escalating tensions between China and the US recently.

In a promotional video on Thursday from the embassy's WeChat account, US Ambassador to China Terry Branstad said, "I sincerely appreciate the work done by the US and Chinese governments to bring California avocados to China."

It also marks another US agricultural product that has gained access to the Chinese market after Beijing signed the phase one trade deal with Washington last year, promising to purchase US agricultural goods, even though the embassy did not say whether it is part of the trade deal.

Avocados have been available in the Chinese market for years as China has allowed imports of the product from some countries including Mexico and New Zealand. But this is the first time that US avocadoes will be allowed to officially enter the Chinese market.

Chinese Customs on April 26 announced that according to an avocado import quarantine agreement reached by both sides, the California-grown Hass Avocado will be allowed to enter the Chinese market - ending a 15-year-long negotiation on the matter which was first started in 2005.

According to Chinese Customs, China imported 43,859 tons of avocados in2018 from several countries including Peru, Mexico and Kenya, worth a total of $133 million.

Ken Melban, vice president of the California Avocado Commission, said "We see tremendous opportunity in the China market. The level of avocado imports going in from other parts of the world has increased exponentially year after year," the Xinhua news agency reported.