Eco Farms’ Mexican program is much the same as prior year
Eco Farms’ Mexican program is much the same as prior year
Although Mexican avocado shipments to the United States have been increasing nearly every year — and with it the volume of Mexican fruit handled by Eco Farms Avocados Inc. in Temecula, CA — President Steve Taft expects the volume for the 2013-14 season to be similar to what it was the prior year, or perhaps up just a little. Yields per acre could be a bit lighter, but with additional acreage certified for export to the United States, overall volume could be up a bit.
“I think most people feel the crop is going to be the same, or maybe even a little bigger than the crop they had last year,” he said. “If not for the new acreage, they might actually see a little bit of a decrease.”
Steve TaftEco Farms’ Mexico program for the coming year is much the same as it was in 2012-13, Taft said. “We are working with the same shippers there, pretty much. We have the same group on sales. It is the same deal, but we just hope to do it better.”
When The Produce News talked to Taft Oct.15, the company’s California and Peruvian avocado programs were just about at an end for the season.
Chilean avocados had been coming in “off and on” for a while. New-crop Mexican fruit was arriving in volume so in the transition there was fruit in the market from all four countries. But as of mid-October, Mexico was dominating the market, and Eco Farms, like the rest of the industry, was going strong with Mexican fruit.
Mexico is “the big gorilla on the block” in the U.S. avocado market, he said. “The main show in town. That has been the same the last few years, and it looks to me like it is going to continue,” Taft said. “Every year the percentage goes up.”
Chilean volume “in general the last few years has been dropping off, he said. Chile gets “kind of bullish on the market here” when market prices are high, “and then when the market is more normal they disappear.” He expects that to be the case again this year.
The volume of Peruvian fruit in the market was up this year and will be up next year, with the timing pretty much coinciding with the California harvest.
But Mexico is “the biggest part of the puzzle,” he said.
