Heavy volumes with avocados are being predicted for the U.S. market this summer.
Mexican avocados shipments are forecast to be big through May when Peru will start to ship some of its fruit. At this time both countries will be joined by the California crop, providing a strong supply of the fruit all throughout summer.
Peru has been experiencing rapid growth in volumes being exported to the U.S., and should peak around June.
USDA statistics show in 2022, 269.65 million pounds of avocados from Peru were shipped to the U.S. The Peruvian Association of Hass Avocado Producers reports in 2023, Peru expects to increase this volume further by 13%.
McDaniel & Chirico Worldwide of Fallbrook, CA reports Mexico and Peru have very large crops, which will compete with the California avocado starting later this year due to the heavy rains.
Mexico continues to expand its avocado production with Jalisco now becoming a new producing region of exported avocados to the U.S.
According to the Association of Avocado Producers of Jalisco, they expect to export, by July 2023, between 80,000 to 100,000 tons of Jalisco avocados to the U.S.
A very rainy winter in California has been especially good for California growers this year.
McDaniel & Chirico Worldwide notes it costs a lot of money to irrigate avocados, but growers’ costs for water were greatly reduced this year because of all the rainfall. Also, high amounts of rain help the trees leach out the salt from the soil and roots, which keeps trees healthier.
These factors have taken the pressure off of growers to pick fruit quickly to pay for their water costs. This means that they are able to hang the fruit for longer, allowing it to size up, which is why the season will start later, as there is no hurry to harvest avocados at this point of the year.
McDaniel & Chirico report they were already 30 million pounds into the crop at this point last season, and this year they are only at around five million.
The California crop will likely run until August this year.