Evening out global avocado supplies

“Supply of avocados from most sources are up year over year.”

So says Thomas Padilla, senior director of export sales for Oxnard, CA-based Mission Produce Inc. “Right now, the industry expects shipments from Chile to pick back up this month, after remaining on the light side during November and December.” Mission Produce works to source avocado supplies from multiple growing regions around the world including Colombia, Mexico and Israel. “The advantage of having these multiple sources year-round is that we can be prepared to fill in any supply gaps that arise,” says Padilla.

Avocado in the U.S. market | Historical volumes (in Kg)

Source: USDA Market News via Agronometrics.
(Agronometrics users can view this chart with live updates here)

“According to industry reports, the harvest out of Mexico is anticipated to be normal in quality and the California harvest is expected to get going in late January, early February,” adds Stephen Fink, vice-president of North American Sales for Mission Produce.

As for demand, the U.S. market is on the run up towards the Super Bowl which takes place one week later this year on Feb. 13, and is an event notably linked with high avocado consumption. “We’re preparing for campaigns around the Big Game. However that’s not expected to impact the international market,” says Padilla.

Healthy start to the New Year

At the same time, Mission is also tapping into health resolutions that take place at this time of year. “We are promoting Opt For Avo, our health and wellness campaign promoting avocado as a healthy substitute for foods high in saturated fats,” says Fink, who notes that Mission has digital media kits, in-store merchandising materials and more available on its website.

Avocado supplies in the U.S. market | Volumes (in Kg)

Source: USDA Market News via Agronometrics.
(Agronometrics users can view this chart with live updates here)

Meanwhile on California avocados, last March, a decision between the Chinese government, the California Avocado Commission and the United States Department of Agriculture led to an agreement to begin shipping avocados to the Chinese market. At that time, Mission Avocados was the first to ship California avocados to China and moved 3,000 boxes of avocados, which were distributed through Pagoda, a fruit store with 4,700 locations throughout China. Mr. Avocado also sold the Californian avocados in Guangzhou Jiangnan Wholesale Market and Shanghai Huizhan Wholesale Market.

“Customers in China are responding well to ripe and ready fruit. Even with strict COVID restrictions in China, demand has remained steady and we’re working diligently to supply the market with high-quality fruit from Chile and New Zealand,” adds Padilla.

The News in Charts is a collection of stories from the industry complemented by charts from Agronometrics to help better tell their story.

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