Supplies of papayas have tightened up.
“Over the last couple of months, it had gotten better. But right now supplies are tight industry wide. There seems to be a little bit of a shortage,” says Lance Peterson of Pharr, Texas-based Super Starr International.
The latter half of 2021 had also seen slimmer supplies of papaya, particularly around the rainy season where consistent rains and some hurricanes and tropical storms had affected both the supplies and the quality of the fruit for some shippers. “It could be weather related again,” says Peterson. “Sometimes what happens is the weather is good when it’s setting the fruit and you’ll get a big wave of fruit and then it comes off.”
Strong quality fruit
However, he does note that the quality of the fruit is very good. Super Starr has its papaya farms in Colima, Mexico. Along with Mexico, Guatemala is also shipping some papaya.
At the same time, historically this is a good time of year for papaya demand and that’s consistent with current demand. “I think the warmer weather helps demand. People are coming out of hibernation,” says Peterson.
Those tighter supplies and good demand make for good pricing which is between $19-$21 on the open market. “That’s similar to last year at this time. I think it will stay there for awhile. I don’t see any big influxes of papayas so I think we’ll be good,” he says, noting that demand sometimes weakens once stone fruit season begins.
For more information:
Lance Peterson
Superstarr International
Tel: +1 (956) 510-8126
[email protected]
www.superstarrinternational.com
