Murrieta, CA – With California avocado season officially underway, West Pak Avocado, a California-based avocado supplier, saw record volume in February.
“Between a later big game this year and the week-long hiccup in supply from Mexico, California fruit saw a record 10.2 percent market share in February,” said Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing Doug Meyer. “At this point, over 10 percent of the California fruit for the season has been harvested, which is typically only a few percent by the end of February.”
Early preseason forecasts by the California Avocado Commission (CAC) project a 15 percent increase in volume over 2021 with a 306-million-pound crop in 2022, with the Hass variety making up the majority of the harvest. Most of the California avocado season volume is expected to occur from mid-April through mid-July, with the season winding down during the months of August, September, and October.
West Pak is looking to have a good variety of sizes by mid to late April, which is when the company typically sees the first major uptick in harvest volume of locally-grown avocados in preparation for Cinco de Mayo (May5th).
For 2021, the Hass Avocado Board lists the volume of California avocados at nearly 251.6 million pounds, which is just under 9 percent of the almost 3 billion pounds total incoming volume of avocados arriving in the U.S. market from all suppliers.
California has nearly 3,000 commercial avocado growers and according to Rabo Research, per capita consumption of avocados in the U.S. currently stands at 9 pounds but could surpass 11 pounds by 2026.
West Pak Avocado is a family owned and operated company that has been growing, packing, shipping, and distributing premium avocados for nearly 40 years.