February 5, 2010

California Avocados

Market Snapshot*

The U.S. Department of Agriculture was reporting the following prices for two-layer trays of hass avocados from California's southern district:

Size 32s, mostly $24.25-26.25; 36s, $25.25-27.25; 40s, $25.25-27.25; 48s, $24.25-25.25; 60s, mostly $24.25; 70s, mostly $20.25; and 84s, $14.25-16.25.

* Prices from the USDA's Fruit & Vegetable Market News, Feb. 2.

The Shipping Scene

The peak of California's avocado season extends from April through September, but light picking already is under way in some areas, and grower-shippers anticipate a large crop of high-quality fruit this year.

Santa Paula-based Calavo Growers Inc. started picking in mid-January, when the fruit reached full maturity, said Rob Wedin, vice president of fresh sales and marketing.

"The fruit looks great," he said. "It's really clean and vibrant-looking."

The region has not received much inclement weather this season, and neither high winds nor pests, which can be somewhat troublesome, have been much of a problem.

Growers have noticed small sizing in the southern growing area, however.

"The fruit south of Los Angeles is still pretty small," Wedin said, "smaller than we remember it to be."

He expected fruit to size up as the season progresses, especially if rain materializes this weekend, as forecast.

Also slowing the southern harvest is a Mediterranean fruit fly quarantine that will prevent fruit in some areas from being marketed until late March or April, he said.

With Mexican and Chilean product still in the pipeline, avocado supplies currently are fairly heavy, Wedin said. But Mexican growers typically start cutting back on shipments to the U.S. in April or May, just as California volume reaches its peak.

Giumarra of Escondido has picked mostly windfall fruit knocked off trees by a storm that blew through the region in January, said Bruce Dowhan, general manager.

"With the amount of Chilean product and the amount of Mexican product coming into the market, we have advised our growers not to harvest into this market," he said.

Exceptions are growers in cold-prone areas or other specific spots where picking may be appropriate at this time.

Dowhan expects California growers to speed up their harvesting when Chilean volume declines in two to three weeks, and the market for California fruit improves.

Fruit quality is very good, he said. The avocados are mature and have good oil levels.

But prices are another matter.

"We expect things to get a little bit better, but we don't expect to see the kind of market pricing that we saw last year due to the increased volume coming in," he said.

Mission Produce Inc. in Oxnard has just started picking in earnest, said Ross Wileman, vice president of sales and marketing.

Some growers were reluctant to start picking because of lack of size, and others will wait for Chile to finish in the hope of getting better market opportunities, he said.

The company is picking in both northern and southern districts. He said the large amount of fruit being harvested in the north compared to the south is highly unusual for this early in the season and probably the result of smaller sizing in the south.

Anticipated rainfall should help improve sizing as well as leech salts out of the soil, he said. So far, the rain has not had a detrimental effect on the crop because it has come in small spurts rather than torrential downpours.

Wileman was optimistic about the coming Super Bowl weekend.

"There will be a lot of promotions, great pricing at retail that we haven't noticed the past few years and plentiful supplies," he said. "There will be a lot of guacamole."

The Irvine-based California Avocado Commission predicts that California growers will ship 470 million pounds of avocados this season, up from last year's historically light crop of 170 million pounds.

"We have a lot of crop to work with," said Jan DeLyser, vice president of marketing.

The commission expects football fans to consume 80 million pounds of avocados during Super Bowl-related events - enough to fill the Miami Dolphins' stadium 30 feet high with guacamole.

The next big retail avocado event is Cinco de Mayo, which should provide ample promotional opportunities, she said. The commission also plans heavy advertising for radio, in-store broadcasts and outdoor billboards in major markets from April through September.

(By Tom Burfield, Western correspondent for The Packer. The Packer and Red Book Credit Services are part of food360º, a division of Vance Publishing Corp., Lincolnshire, Ill.)

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