Mexico: Avocado prices soar as season comes to an end
In the fourth week of June, the average wholesale price of Hass avocado in the Central de Abastos of Iztapalapa in Mexico City increased by 74 percent when compared to the same month last year.
That week, the avocado was traded in the wholesale market at 43 pesos per kilo while, according to the National Information System and Market Integration (SNIIM), in the same week of 2015, it was sold for 25 pesos.
At the end of May, the average price stood at 37 pesos per kilo. Prices range between 46 and 62 pesos per kilo in supermarkets.
The impact of the increase in avocado prices can also be observed in the official inflation measure.
According to the latest data available from the Consumer Price Index, avocado prices in the first half of June increased by 36 percent over the year, the highest increase recorded since 2014.
Ramon Paz, advisor to the Association of Producers and Exporters of Avocado from Mexico Packers (APEAM), said that, among other things, prices had increased because the avocado harvest would come to an end on June 30.
At this time every year, he said, there are few fruits in the orchards, so prices rise.
Additionally, producers started the harvest earlier this cycle because of the increased domestic and international demand, he added.
"There are peaks in demand. In Mexico it's during Lent, in the United States it's the Super Bowl and after May 5. This year, producers harvested more fruit in these peaks than in other years," he said.
The end of the season comes during summer, when there are more chances people will have family reunions or outdoor grills, so demand for the product can increase, he said.
He also said that the high prices also respond to the seasonality of the trees because, even though there was nearly a one week gap between harvests every year (as the next cycle begins between July 4 and 5) the plantations didn't always have the same annual production
He said that gap didn't exist in previous years, so there was a seamless transition between the end of one harvest and the start of the following season.
Paz said prices in the US had also increased and that they had doubled in the last two weeks. Thus, a kilo of avocado in the US, after being packed, having paid taxes and freight costs, among other things, costs $5 dollars.
He also said he thought prices would gradually decrease and that they could stabilize by the end of July or early August.
Source: Reforma