The more sizable harvest of tropical items out of Florida is behind about a month due to weather issues in the state. "We had a few cold snaps that affected production. Normally at this time of year, we would have already started but we haven't. We'll start again in about two to three weeks with guava and in about a month with the Ecuadorian variety of passion fruit," says Dennis Sever of Exotic Growers. "It's been really slow on growing guavas but they're starting to come in now nicely. The weather is warm and cooperative."
The company will ship a few different varieties of guava including Thai, Pink, Chinese, Taiwanese, and Watermelon guava. The more significant volumes of fruit will come out of Florida until the end of September, weather permitting.
On passion fruit, which generally starts with greater volume around Valentine's Day, in the last several years, growers in south Florida have been planting more of the fruit because it's an easy crop to grow. "We generally have a lot more volume this year as opposed to last year–last year we had a lot of bad weather," Sever says, adding that this passion fruit variety is hand-pollinated. Passion fruit's first season starts in April with more limited volumes, then greater volumes come on into September-October. The second season runs from late December into February.
Exotic Growers will ship a few different varieties of guava including Thai, Pink, Chinese, Taiwanese, and Watermelon guava.
Pick up in demand
As for demand, this week it has taken a turn and it's on the upswing for the fruit which Sever partially attributes to the cold snap and snowstorms ending in larger parts of the U.S. and Canada. "If I had 20 pallets today of guava for example, even more, I could sell it," he says.
Passion fruit demand is also expected to be strong.
Along with Florida, industry production on guava is also coming out of Mexico, a country whose potential tariffs on product coming into the U.S. are on pause until April 2.
Passion fruit demand is also expected to be strong.
Tariffs and pricing
For Sever, the scenario reminds him of the economic concerns post-9/11. "Remember when gas went up from $1.50/gallon to $5/gallon overnight? People were complaining but everyone bought it and then after everything settled down, the price was the same. It's the same thing with these tariffs–everyone's going to complain but they have no choice."
As for guava pricing, right now it is very strong thanks to the tight supply. "I've been in produce since 1996 and this year guava prices went up to $85/box for almost two months. I've never seen it that high in my life," he says, adding that the highest he'd seen it was at $55/box. Recently pricing began softening to around $40/box in the last two to three weeks.
Passion fruit pricing is around $50/6 lb. box and that price should also soften as greater volumes come on. By the end of March, that should be into the high $20s/low $30s.
Sever is also looking ahead to exports of guava to countries such as Canada, whose export tariffs are also on pause until April 2. "It might affect our trade and we do a pretty good amount of business with Canadian wholesalers," he says.
For more information:
Dennis Sever
Exotic Growers, Inc.
Tel: +1 (305) 393-1556
[email protected]
