The supply of white dragon fruit is starting to pick up. "There was a small gap in fruit from Ecuador for about two weeks and that caused prices to go up," says Alan Goldberg of A&B Tropical Produce. "However, now that there is more fruit coming in this week, prices should be back into the high teens. They had been in the low to mid $20s for that short gap."
The volume coming in from Ecuador is similar to this time last year and both fruit sizing and quality have been average.
© A&B Tropical Produce
Florida outlook
Meanwhile, Florida will begin its production of dragon fruit soon and its season usually goes three to four months. "The Florida season is looking good. The growing conditions have been favorable for the most part, so we may have some earlier than usual dragon fruit production," says Goldberg, noting that it will continue to ship Ecuadorian white dragon fruit along with fruit from Florida. "That's because Florida doesn't put out the kind of production that comes in from offshore. If anything, it just puts a bit of pricing pressure on Ecuador."
Also given the fact that fuel rates always come into play with pricing on products that are imported–and fuel rates continue to increase–that could put even more pricing pressure on Ecuador.
As for the demand for dragon fruit, it is average though there are hopes that it will strengthen given the warmer weather that is coming on across the country.
For more information:
Alan Goldberg
A&B Tropical Produce
Tel: +1 (305) 805-1530
[email protected]
www.abtropical.com
