Jeff Friedman, president and sales manager of Pompano Beach, FL-based Carb/Americas Inc., seemingly sings the same tune every year as he advocates for good ad pricing that will help increase sales for Peruvian asparagus.

“The United States is the only country where we can move more grass by consumption,” he said. “You can’t do that in Europe, but you can do it in the U.S.”

Friedman explained that demand for asparagus grows exponentially when the retailers put it on ad at a very good promotable price. In the past, he has said a $2.99 per-pound price will move many times more grass than $5.99, $4.99 or even $3.99

It was the beginning of the last full week of July during this conversation and Peruvian asparagus still had an f.o.b. Miami price of above $30 for an 11-pound carton. That close to $3 wholesale price equates to a much higher retail price.

“At $4.99 you are not going to move a lot of asparagus,” he said. “Consumers don’t have to buy. They can barbecue chicken or something else.”

But Friedman does believe there will be some very good promotable volume once September rolls around. In fact, he already noted a downward pressure on the price.

“We started this week off around $30,” he said on Tuesday, July 22, “but by the end of the week we could be at $27 or $28.”

He said Mexico has more volume and there appears to be more volume coming out of Peru. A couple of years ago, some growers converted asparagus acreage to grapes, avocados and other potential exports to the United States, but in the past year or so, Friedman has seen some of the larger growers increase their asparagus acreage.

He said the processor price in Peru has also weakened a bit, which means more fresh market volume. He has high hopes that the increase in volume will result in some good program pricing and an increase in sales of the product.

Like most importers, Carb/Americas deals with many different growers. “We are lucky to have a solid seven or eight consignment growers that we have been participating with for 15 to 23 years. We also work with some f.o.b. growers every year.”

Frankly, he said the difference is that the long-term relationship with growers allows for program pricing and setting up deals that they will honor weeks in advance. Spot-market volume is more difficult to get on ad “because the retailers can’t count on that commitment if the price goes up.”