Posts Tagged “avocados”
Avocados should be one of the best buys in your local produce department as produce continues to arrive from Mexico and will continue to do so into May. 
There’s also Chilean avocados which will be on retail shelves into late March. California avocados also are available and will continue well after the imported fruit is no longer available — into September. Even when California has sole possession of the market, prices should remain reasonable. The state expects to produce as much as 415 million pounds of avocados this season, 25 percent more than a year ago.
During the last quarter of 2011 the cost of fresh fruits and vegetables actually declined overall by eight percent, but we may not have necessarily have seen the benefits in our retail stores. Why? A major reason is the cost of fuel keeps rising to get the product delivered.
That means you may not have noticed the savings, for example, with oranges which had an average price of 93 cents per pound in January, compared to 98 cents per pound in December. Another example are tomatoes, which were costing on average $1.54 per pound in January, down a penny from December, but off five cents from the same time a year ago.
Produce shipments out of Southern California are entering decent volume for 
strawberries, but avocado loadings will be limited for awhile. Better weather conditions compared to a year ago have strawberries loadings more than double over 2011 volume. About 25 to 30 percent of California’s total strawberry shipments come from Ventura County and south. Overall, California is forecast to ship 176 million trays of strawberries this year.
As for avocados, Californa expects to move nearly 400 million trays. Loading opportunities from California have been less than normal as many West Coast shippers are holding onto product waiting for big volumes from Mexico and Chile to subside. Expect significant increases in California avocado shipments come April.
From the Bakersfield area, there’s about 300 truckload equivalents of carrots being shipped weekly….There also is fair volume with items such as lettuce, celery, cauliflower and broccoli being loaded from the Coachella and Imperial valleys of the California desert.
Southern California berries, citrus is grossing about $5500 to New York City.
Imperial Valley veggies – about $3600 to Chicago.