Large crops in any commodity generally bring promotional opportunities, and the record aggregate volume of avocados in the U.S. market this year from all sources is certainly providing customers with those promotional opportunities.

Ross Wileman“We have done a lot more promotions this year than last year, because of the size of the crop,” said Ross Wileman, vice president of sales and marketing at Mission Produce Inc. in Oxnard, CA.

Mission has seen good responses from customers on promotions, he said. “I think they are enjoying it, too.”

There is a continued increase in demand for avocados, and that is not just limited to the U.S. market, he said. In addition to sourcing globally, Mission also markets avocados offshore. “We are seeing global demand now,” Mr. Wileman said. “We are not just focused on the United States. Consumption in avocados is worldwide. Japan has grown. Europe has grown. China is starting to bring in avocados.”

As an industry, “we are moving pretty good volume right now,” he said July 24. Movement is “fairly consistent.”

However, “the issue that most of us are facing is too much of the wrong size. With Mexico still going” on the last of its 2011-12 crop, with “California in full production” and with “Peru entering the marketplace,” and all of them having an abundance of large-sized fruit, “there is a lot of large fruit” on the market. That has resulted in a “softness in the market” for larger fruit, “primarily on the 40s and Larger and to some extend on the 48s,” he said.

At the other end of the spectrum, there are “tight supplies” of sizes 60 and smaller, he said.

As of late July, the market was moving into a transition period on sourcing. “Mexico’s old crop will be winding down pretty fast here in the next week or two,” Mr. Wileman said. “Peru is in the early final stages of completing their season.” The Peruvian fruit “has been coming in for about six weeks, and they will go through September.”

The California avocado harvest will go much longer than last year, however, because of a larger crop. “California is going to go probably through October with very good supplies,” he said.

Mexico’s off-season crop was expected to start in early August, followed by “the true new season crop” in September. The new crop starts, traditionally, with smaller sizes, “which may give us some relieve” from the current tightness of supplies of small fruit, he said.

Having fruit in the market from so many different sources “I think is good for the industry in the long haul, because consumption continues to grow at about 10 percent annually,” Mr. Wileman said. ”So you’ve got to grow the sourcing to match the demand. I think for the consumer it is good, because we have gone from a year where we saw short supplies and very high prices to this year [with] reasonable prices” enabling retailers to “promote avocados more often.”