Just a handful of years ago if you would have asked Rankin McDaniel Sr. if the United States could consume 2.5 billion pounds of avocados in a single year, he wouldn’t have thought it was possible.

Now, the president of McDaniel Fruit Co. in Fallbrook, CA, believes that number will be easily eclipsed as he said avocados are still on a huge upward sales curve with “exponential growth” continuing in the near future. “Right now I am not surprised at all at what we are able to achieve.”

The McDaniel Fruit Co. packinghouse. President Rankin McDaniel said avocado sales continue to grow.As the industry has flown by the lofty 2 billion-pound mark and is smashing sales records every year, McDaniel credits the industry organizations for creating this great marketing situation. He said the commissions — including the California Avocado Commission, Avocados from Mexico, the Chilean Avocado Commission and the Peruvian Avocado Commission — have done a great job for many years. “They have spent a tremendous amount of money promoting avocados and educating consumers about the many uses for the fruit and how great it tastes.”

In addition, he said the research and promoting of the health benefits message “has resonated very well” with all generations from the baby boomers to millennials. He added that changing demographics in the United States, which has resulted in a growing Hispanic population, has also greatly enhanced the consumption rates.

Rankin McDaniel is very bullish on the future of his company, which was started by his father and mother more than 60 years ago with the purchase of an avocado grove in Vista, CA, in San Diego County. Though McDaniel Fruit sources the majority of its annual volume outside of the United States from Mexico, Peru and Chile, McDaniel said the company is also “always focused on California product and getting the best possible return for those avocados.”

While Mexico appears to be headed for a banner year in terms of imports, California also has a very generous crop on the trees, which will probably begin hitting the market in January. “Because of the size of the crop we will need to start the marketing cycle earlier and end later,” he said, speaking of the 2016 crop that has a pre-season estimate of around 400 million pounds.

But as he spoke in early October, Mexican avocados were the dominant player in the marketplace. The flora loca crop, which is the first bloom of the four annual blooms that an avocado tree in Mexico typically experiences, was winding down. McDaniel said it was a larger bloom that usual and the fruit also were larger than they typically are. Consequently, the size distribution did not quite meet the demand curve, which he said created some challenges. However, the second Mexican avocado crop — aventejada — was more in line with typical distribution patterns when it began hitting the market in early October.

Moving forward, the longtime industry veteran said there should be consistent supplies of promotable volume throughout the rest of 2015. In fact, McDaniel said the supply of avocados has become very consistent throughout the year with promotable supplies being the rule rather than the exception.