It’s going to be a light year for California avocados, but markets are setting up nicely. 2019 is technically an off-year for alternate bearing California avocado trees. “We have a somewhat smaller crop this year,” California Avocado Commission President Tom Bellamore said. “We had a pretty good side crop last year. So we’ll be smaller this year, but growers are hopeful that market conditions will be strong and good and we’ll have a good shipping season.”
Harvest will soon begin for the California fruit and its good timing for markets. There was a gluttony of fruit in stores in February due to a labor strike ending in Mexico. Once those packing lines started back up, Mexican fruit flooded the market and depressed prices.
Bellamore said all of that product has cycled through and markets are looking good for California producers. “That’s what everyone is hoping for. That Super Bowl period, there’s a lot of avocados on the market,” he said. “It’s hard for (growers) to enter the market when markets are weak or not returning as well. But there is a recovery on the way, and we’re expecting that markets will continue that trend.”
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