Dec. 21, 2011
Rob Wedin, VP of Sales & Fresh Marketing for Calavo Growers Inc
Volume right now, coming from Mexico is 85%. The balance of the Hass are coming from Chile and the Dominican Republic. Mexico is cool and dry and there is no negative weather effects on harvesting. Chile is hot and dry, allowing them to get in and harvest at will. Avocados from Mexico are plentiful. Quality is approaching peak flavor and uniform ripening. The shopper is not yet up to speed with the greater supplies and lower retail prices, therefore more promotion is required for a more effective and efficient avocado market.
www.calavo.com
Jim Donovan, VP of Business Development for Mission Produce
At the moment, most of the Avocado harvest is coming out of Mexico, followed by Chile. Mexico is out of the rain season making the harvest substantially easier and faster, while in Chile, the long-term issue of drought is continuing to plague the industry. Mexico has a very strong crop this year allowing them to supply a vast majority of avocados in the US market right now. We are at that time of the year for those sources, when content is higher and the face profile is much better.
www.missionpro.com
Bruce Dowhan General Manager for Giumarra Agricom International
We are currently harvesting product in Mexico. We’re also still harvesting in Chile. We have had some recent wind events here in California that may impact some things down the road but currently in Mexico and Chile, there are no catastrophic weather issues. We do expect a little bit of a decline as we get closer to the Christmas period as typically labor shortages cause shortages in volume. Supply out of Chile has been very light over the last three or four weeks due to a number of conditions. There will be great opportunities to promote not only for holiday ball games, new years, but certainly adequate supplies going into Super Bowl at the end of January.
www.giumarra.com
