Though the avocado market has experienced numerous events that have led to some unsettled times over the first seven months of the year, Peter Shore, vice president of production management for Calavo Growers Inc., Santa Paula, CA, is anticipating a steady marketing situation for the remainder of 2024. However, he did note that change is constant and outside factors could alter those expectations.

But surveying the situation in late July, Shore noted that both California and Peru were seeing their weekly shipments quickly decline. Mexico will have the market to itself during the last four months of the year. Consequently, the industry reports that Mexico’s 2024/2025 crop (fiscal years July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025) looks very much like the 2023/24 crop is informing Shore’s opinion that the rest of the year will feature a fairly predictable supply with a consistent flow of product and potentially consistent pricing. He said the U.S. market can absorb about 55 million pounds of avocados each week and he expects shipments to be in that ballpark often during the last third of the year.

He did note that supplies in August could be a little less consistent because Mexico is transitioning from its summer crop to its regular crop. And California’s amazing summer production, which is seeing the yearly total eclipse the pre-season estimate by more than 50 percent, just may continue to surprise for a few weeks longer.

Shore said Calavo’s supply situation was mirroring the industry’s as its production from California and Peru was coming to an end. He reported in late July that the Mexican states of Jalisco and Michoacan will be the company’s main avocado supply contributors over the next five months. “Jalisco is harvesting right now for other export markets and soon that fruit will be coming to the U.S. market.”

The Produce News caught up to the Calavo executive just as he was getting ready to spend a good portion of the following week at the annual International Fresh Produce Association Foodservice Conference in Monterey, CA.  “Foodservice is a very important part of our business,” he said.

Shore said the restaurant industry had a difficult time coming back from the pandemic issues and the accompanying shutdown in the spring of 2020. Some restaurants didn’t recover and closed their doors. But Shore said Calavo’s foodservice business is back to its pre-COVID levels.”

He also reported that from a supplier standpoint, restaurant business is similar to its retail business. The company works with a wide range of customers from big foodservice distributors to smaller wholesalers and from large restaurant companies to much smaller shops.  And its sales effort revolves largely around setting up programs just as it does for the retail trade.