While there is a gap on imported white dragon fruit, the upcoming supply will not be as expected. "Shipments from Ecuador will resume over the next 10 days but the supply will be on the low side," says Alan Goldberg of A&B Tropical Produce, adding the gap is short given it was receiving fruit up until last week. "It's quite the contrast to last year where we were swimming in fruit and prices fell into the single digits and were even on consignment for a while."
Why the upcoming supply will be on the lower side is somewhat undetermined. "Back in December and January, they were predicting the same type of production come February- March and it never happened. There was fruit, but not nearly the production we had last year," says Goldberg.
While the weather could be a factor, the fact that there was so much output last year impacted the returns of many farmers, and in turn, investment back into operations was lacking. "A lot of acreage was let go," says Goldberg. In addition, shippers may have also kept supply lower than last year to ensure prices wouldn't drop to the same levels as they did last year. "It was a shock to importers here. We expected the floodgates to open up on supply and it never happened," he adds.
Challenges in demand
As for demand, it has been okay though the fruit is good quality which helps movement. "It's not spectacular. The industry has been in a slump overall and things haven't been moving too well this year but there is decent demand," he says. "I've talked to a lot of people in the industry and everybody had a rough year last year and are just trying to get through to see what happens."
Meanwhile, in Florida dragon fruit production, which begins in June and peaks July-September, it's difficult to determine how that's developing. It's anticipated that Florida will also have less production than in the past. Traditionally production is around the Homestead, Florida region though Goldberg notes it's also emerging further north in Florida off of Lake Okeechobee. "It's mainly smaller farms. However, it's hard to get a grip on what's being produced. A lot of those farms are also being tied up by sellers from the northeast such as New York. They are making deals in which in some cases they own the farm. It's a form of consolidation," he says.
Not surprisingly, right now prices are strong in the high $20s FOB out of Miami due to the gap. Before the gap, they were in the $16-$18 range which is where the price is expected to come back to once greater shipments resume, though that will also depend on what those shipments look like.
For more information:
Alan Goldberg
A&B Tropical Produce
+1 (305) 805-1530
alang@abtropical.com
www.abtropical.com