There is an oversupply of white-fleshed dragon fruit from Ecuador. "Some fruit was delayed and that came in along with some product that was supposed to have been harvested. It was just a lot of fruit at one time," says Alan Goldberg of A&B Tropical Produce. "More came in this year compared to last December."
The delay was on the growing side, even with good weather in Ecuador, though there were quality issues a few weeks ago. Those issues have largely passed by now.
All of this has dragon fruit growers in Ecuador regrouping in hopes that prices will stabilize shortly after the new year. "There was some low pricing. Last year wasn't as bad as it is now," says Goldberg, adding that this low pricing started just before Thanksgiving. "This is about as low as I've seen in a couple of years. Last year's pricing was not good but this year was worse."
© A&B Tropical Produce
Demand, tariffs and more
At the same time, as it is for a number of produce commodities this quarter, demand is soft for dragon fruit. "The market is still reeling from different things. The effects of tariffs–which are no longer in effect for this item–left a lot of damage. I think the industry is now going to have a period where we start to recover from the effects of some of these tariffs. That's the hope."
Meanwhile in dragon fruit production in Ecuador, it is reacting to what's going on in the U.S. market in terms of demand for dragon fruit. "There are quite a few fields down there that have been abandoned and then someone comes in and attempts to get the fields ready and replanted," says Goldberg. "However these low prices come around and kills them and it's a continuous cycle of that. That cycle needs to be broken."
Looking ahead, dragon fruit demand does pick up as Lunar New Year approaches in February.
For more information:
Alan Goldberg
A&B Tropical Produce
Tel: +1 (305) 805-1530
[email protected]
www.abtropical.com
