Calavo optimistic about California avocado marketing situation

With a portfolio of larger fruit, strong marketing conditions and a diminishing supply of Mexican avocados, Peter Shore of Calavo Growers Inc. is optimistic that 2024 will be a positive season for those California growers that have produced a reasonably good crop from their trees.

While the total crop has been estimated to be down about 12 percent. Shore, who is Calavo’s vice president of production management, said the decline is not distributed evenly across the board. “The way the production is shaping up, the majority of the crop is going to be coming from Santa Paula, the Santa Clara River area and other production areas in Ventura County,” he said. “Riverside, San Diego and Orange counties and the more northern district did not have as good a set because of the cool wet spring last year.”

Shore noted that Calavo growers have started picking their fruit and are looking forward to a positive season. “Each week throughout March we will see an increase in volume as we have growers that are taking advantage of the pricing situation and size picking. We will see peak production in April, May and June.”

Shore relayed that the market for the popular 48s in early March was in the mid-$40s for a carton of avocados. He called that a good market price that would entice some growers to size pick. He added,  that the forecast for the next 10 days from his perch in Ventura County are for clear skies and warmer weather, which should help size the fruit and cause more growers to start picking.

As the season wears on California’s production is expected to peak in the 48-size arena. Shore said California tends to produce a full portfolio of sizes, which are typically distributed along the typical bell curve. On the other hand, Mexico’s fruit as that point of origin moves into the final quarter of its 2023-24 crop year is skewing toward the small end of the spectrum. “Mexico might be peaking on 48s, but we are seeing a lot of 84s, 70s and 60s being shipped,” he said. “Though as their season winds down and they move to groves in the higher elevations, we may see more of the larger sizes.”

In any event, Shore said California should be producing promotable volume of 48s through its peak months.

For its customers, Calavo, which is headquartered in Santa Paula, will be offering a full array of sizes in both bulk and bagged configurations. “And we will be packing our California bagged fruit in California-specific bags, calling out the point of origin,” Shore added.

The company will also be promoting the GEM variety to its customers. That variety has been around for about a decade but there was a significant increase in acreage within the last handful of years creating more volume. However, this year’s volume of GEMS is expected to be similar to last year, according to Shore, because of the total crop size.

He noted that Calavo sells and promotes most of its California fruit in western states with California, Oregon and Washington consuming the vast majority of the volume, but other nearby states are also in play.

Speaking of other points of origin over the next few months, Shore anticipates Peruvian avocados to come into the United States starting in late June. He said the earlier-producing northern district of that South American country’s production seems to have a lighter crop this year, which means the fruit won’t be marketed in the United States on the early side.