Their efforts are complicated by “coyotes” — intermediaries who take advantage of farmers’ desperation to buy agave for as little as 10 US cents a kilo.
The 25 percent tariffs that US President Donald Trump has pledged to impose on imports of Mexican goods unless the country does more to tackle illegal flows of migrants and drugs are another threat for the industry.
The United States consumes about 85 percent of tequila with the denomination of origin label, “so of course I’m concerned,” Guzman said.
To counteract the coyotes, the Tequila Regulatory Council has launched a digital platform for traditional growers.
It enables them to seek orders from tequila companies at prices that guarantee “reasonable profitability.”
At La Iberia, a bar in Jalisco’s state capital Guadalajara filled with the sound of mariachi music, manager Martin Martinez estimated that tequila prices have doubled over the past six years.
He said that he had been forced to reduce his profit margins to avoid losing customers.
Sipping a drink in the nearly 150-year-old establishment, customer Salvador Magana said he had seen no benefit from the agave production boom.
“If prices went down, the liquor should have been a bit cheaper, but no,” the 55-year-old lamented.
© 2025 AFP
