Good supplies of avocados continue to come from California, Mexico and Peru.
“There’s much better volume of avocados than last year,” says Peter Shore with Santa Paula, CA-based Calavo Growers Inc. “Supplies have also been steady this year as opposed to last year. Mexico is having a steady year—its summer crop is reporting up to 10 percent higher than last year. And California and Peru are having better years as well. This year California’s production is up considerably by about 60 percent.”
At the same time, demand for avocados continues to be solid, especially moving into the summer season which is when demand for the fruit peaks. That said, demand is still down on the foodservice side of the business. “The business did come back a bit but with recent restaurant closures in Florida, Texas, California and other states, the business is affected,” says Shore.
Lower pricing this year
All this puts pricing on promotable levels for avocados. “Pricing is significantly lower than last year at this time because we’ve got great supplies,” says Shore.
Looking ahead, Shore says Peru and California will continue to have good supplies through July and August. “Those two regions taper off in September. California is heavy from April to August while Peru is heaviest June to August. There will be fruit available from both regions in September, but it starts to lighten up,” he says. “I think they’ll wrap up a little later given the better supplies. And our anticipation is that Mexico will continue to have good supplies late summer into fall.”
For more information:
Peter Shore
Calavo Growers Inc.
Tel: +1 (805) 921-3247
petersh@calavo.com
http://www.calavo.com/