Posts Tagged “California avocado shipments”
California avocado shipments are estimated to be down about 12 percent from last season. However, McDaniel Fruit Co., baseded in Fallbrook, CA, does not expect to see a decline in its production.
California is estimated to have 208 million pounds this season.
The grower/shipper/packer reveals with its growing partners, thousands of new trees are planted every year in California. So, while the California avocado industry is expected to be down, McDaniel expects to have the same volume of fruit as last year if not more.
The company also sees better sizing than last year during the peak shipping months of April, May and June and into July and August.
During the next few months, McDaniel Fruit will be shipping avocados from Mexico, Peru and Colombia, as well as from California. Peru is expected to be a significant player this summer and Colombia is also a point of origin with increasing supplies.
The official crop forecast for the California Avocado Commission’s (CAC) fiscal year 2023-24 is 208 million pounds, down from the prior year’s volume of 237 million pounds.
Weather and market conditions will be key factors for when California avocado growers begin harvesting, said the Commission in a release. The potential for a wet winter may encourage some growers to delay picking to allow their avocados time to increase in size, which could in turn increase the crop volume.
“Some very early season harvesting has occurred already and we’re anticipating the volume to ramp up in March and April,” says CAC Vice President of Marketing Terry Splane.
“The recent rain in California avocado growing regions followed by a period of sunny days is excellent for the health of our avocado trees and sizing of the fruit,” says Jason Cole, chairman of the California Avocado Commission Board of Directors. “We are looking forward to the harvest, which has already started in a minor way, to ramp up once fruit sizing and market conditions are favorable.”
The majority of California avocados are shipped West of the Rocky Mountains.
Mexican avocado volumes have plunged resulting in greater demand California product, according to a weekly update by California Avocado Society.
The Ventura-based non-profit reported a 15% increase in California avocado yields two weeks ago, with field quotes rising about 25% in the past two weeks.
With this, California avocado field prices are the highest they’ve been all season.
Higher temperatures are urging producers in southern California to harvest more heavily, and the organization projected a 13-14 million pound harvest for the first week of July.
Late season Mexican avocado imports amounted to only 25 million pounds, and the more ripe fruit quality shortens its shelf-life.
This has left the U.S. market needing more, but shipments from California and Peru remain too low to supply the growing demand.
As theFourth of July approached, the industry had low inventories, which were below 50 million pounds.
The imbalance in the market may require several weeks to right itself, the non-profit says.
“The…crop was unable to fill the gap left by the Mexican sector, because it wasn’t released for export to the U.S. until this week. Jalisco’s Mendez crop also was released for export this week,” California Avocado Society said in a release.
As for varieties, GEM-brand from Westfalia has slowed as its season winds down. Lamb Hass is catching this good pricing window just as harvest ramps up.
Mexico’s supplies are expected to bounce back in a few weeks.
CAC forecasts the avocado crop for fiscal year 2022-23 at 257 million pounds, which is a slight decline from the 2021-22 yield of 276 million pounds. The agency predicts that the hass variety will account for 243 million pounds of this year’s crop, with lamb hass weighing in at 7 million pounds and Gem at 6 million pounds.
While harvest timing will depend on weather and market conditions, CAC saw volume ramping up in March and reach peak availability from April through July. The season typically winds down around Labor Day.
Eco Farms of Temecula, CA who has a partnership with The Oppenheimer Group of Vancouver, BC expects a good crop this season. Calavo Growers in Santa Paula, CA; and Index Fresh in Corona, CA also express optimism over a slightly smaller overall crop, but with better sizing than a year ago.
California avocado shipments typically receive a boost from Cinco de Mayo and American summer holidays such as Memorial Day, Fourth of July and Labor Day.
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.
The 2022 pre-season forecast by the California Avocado Commission of Irvine, CA projects a 306-million-pound crop, which is nearly a 15% increase over the last fiscal year.
About 80% of the California avocado season volume is expected to occur from April through August, with the season winding down starting in September. The Commission’s fiscal year runs from November 2021 through October 2022.
Market conditions will be a key factor for when California avocado growers begin harvesting; although some growers have already begun to pick. Volume is expected to ramp up in earnest around March.
California avocado growers received welcomed rains in December and January. This moved the region from severe drought to moderate drought conditions, and rain usually has a positive impact on tree health and avocado sizing.
The majority of the harvest will be the Hass variety; Lamb Hass, GEM and other varieties also are being commercially grown.
California has about 3,000 growers in the Golden State. The California Avocado Commission serves as the official information source for California avocados and the California avocado industry.
California avocado loadings will be 8 percent less for the 2020-21 season and stand at 292 million pounds, compared to a pre-season crop estimate by the California Avocado Commission. This still would be considered an average size crop.
Fall and winter weather events including heavy winds resulted in the slight forecast change, with the reduction occurring in the pre-season months.
The California avocado peak shipping season starts in late April and continues through August, with available volume before and after the peak period.
While total avocado volume is small compared to Mexico, California avocado shipments for 2020 is expected to reach nearly 400 million pounds — nearly an 85 percent increase over last year.
Loadings are expected to continue into September with limited volume extending into October.
This year’s crop has benefited both from naturally being a larger crop in the alternate-bearing cycle and excellent growing conditions.
This year’s crop has benefited both from naturally being a larger crop in the alternate-bearing cycle and excellent growing conditions.
Henry Avocado Corp. of Escondido, CA has finished its avocado program in the southern part of California, but will continue to ship from the north, in August through October.
Shipments will take place in Ventura County, transition to the Santa Barbara/Goleta area and then move northeast into the Santa Maria area and as far as Morro Bay and the San Luis Obispo.
The company points out it takes longer to grow in the northern area, so they have fruit available later in the summer and into the early fall, depending on the size of the crop.
Eco Farms of Temecula, CA, report loadings to retail supermarkets made up for the company’s drop in foodservice business that resulted from restaurant closures prompted by the corona virus pandemic.
California’s avocado season actually peaks in May and June, before the official start of summer. Peak weeks for California this year were the last week of April and the first week of May. May was the biggest month for California avocado shipments.
The market needed avocados at that time because Peruvian imports were late arriving in the U.S.
Del Rey Avocado Co. Inc. of Fallbrook, CA expects Del Rey to finish its California shipments in mid-October, about a month later than most other shippers.
California avocado shipments are far outpacing last season, primarily because of heavy demand from retailers in early and mid-March amid the coronavirus pandemic.
However, the California Avocado Commission reports loadings have now slowed down in line with retail demand.
Despite retail orders being offset somewhat by the huge drop in foodservice demand, California avocado growers harvested nearly 46.7 million pounds this season through March 22.
This compares to only 5.1 million pounds for the same time last year. Some of this increase is due to a larger crop in 2020, but much is due to strong early-season demand. There has been a lot consumers stocking up and panic-buying, especially with the start of the pandemic, but there have been some expectations of softer retail traffic going into April. This has resulted in many growers to temporarily slow down on harvesting.
Unlike some produce items, mature avocados can remain safely on their trees, providing some harvesting flexibility.
California avocado shipments should experience a huge rebound this year with 369 million pounds forecast. This is about a 70 percent increase over 2019.
Still, California is a small player compared to the volume out of Mexico. While some California avocados are shipped to the East Coast, the vast amount goes to markets in the Western states. Last year, with a small crop, most destinations were to markets in California.
The California Avocado Commission of Irvine reports early-season volume has slightly exceeded projections. Peak loadings should occur from April through July and continue through Labor Day.
Some growers started harvesting in mid January due to strong markets and their big crops, with others starting in February.
Index Fresh Inc. of Riverside, CA plans to have good volume into September.
Calavo Growers Inc. of Santa Paula, CA also had an early start. Two years ago the company was hit harder than most by fires in groves as well as a heat wave.
Another reason California growers have started shipping sooner was due less volume this year from Mexico.
Mission Produce Inc. of Oxnard, CA started a month earlier this season than originally planned.
Eco Farms of Temecula, CA got off to a slow start in January, but loadings picked up in February.
Henry Avocado Corp. of Escondido, CA was shipping light volume in February, but shipments picked up in March, and the company will be full capacity from April to July, before starting to taper off in August.
The company has some spring and summer fruit going to customers in the East, but most of its fruit stays on the West Coast.
The Giumarra Cos. of Los Angeles has two California packinghouses, one in Escondido and one in Ventura and is shipping from both facilities.
Southern California avocados and citrus – grossing about $6400 to New York City.