Latest News From Avocados

Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc., Coral Gables, Fla., reports its 2018 acquisition of Mann Packing Co. led to higher sales in North America for the year.

BERLIN — World trade and consumption of fresh avocados has been rocketing higher for the past 15 years, but how long can the market continue to grow?

Mission Produce Inc., Oxnard, Calif., is expanding its sales staff, creating a business development sector, hiring senior director of sales and increasing its foodservice division.

Apeel Sciences plans to bring its shelf-life extending technology to European avocado marketer Nature’s Pride.

Promoted for their creamy texture and “healthy” fat attributes, avocados were the No. 1 item that shoppers said they bought in the past 12 months that they did not buy previously.

U.S. hass avocado shipments sizzled in October, with volume 30% above year-ago levels.

South African fruit company Westfalia Fruit’s Colombia division has a new avocado processing facility in Sonson, Antioquia, Colombia.

As U.S. avocado importers entered Super Bowl week, they were importing record levels of the fruit.

Mission Produce Inc., Oxnard, Calif., is using Hazel Technologies’ shelf-life extension product on avocados, with plans to integrate the technology throughout its global supply chain.

After its first successful season growing organic strawberries, Berry People, Hollister, Calif., is expanding its Mexican program in Baja California.

Citrus, grape and avocado importer LGS Specialty Sales Ltd., New Rochelle, N.Y., has earned Brand Reputation Compliance certification.

Surf is up for Hawaii avocados.

Consumers are finding ways to incorporate avocados into their summer holidays, with July Fourth sales hitting a four-year high in 2018 as all regions of the U.S. saw strong growth.

Despite headwinds of lower prices in the latest quarter, Santa Paula, Calif.-based Calavo Growers Inc. reported record revenues and adjusted net income for fiscal 2018.

Here are a few charts to illustrate what the avocado market has been like this year.

Tropical fruit grower, packer and shipper WP Produce, Miami, is kicking off its 2019 season with green-skinned avocado varieties that will be available year-round.

Tropical fruit grower, packer and shipper WP Produce, Miami, is kicking off its 2019 season with green-skinned avocado varieties that will be available year-round.

The latest numbers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture reveal that overall fresh fruit consumption has risen from about 101 pounds in 2006 to 117.4 pounds in 2017.

The 2018-19 California avocado crop is expected to fall short of 2017-18 output by nearly half.

The Food and Drug Administration has released results of hot pepper and avocado pathogen testing under a program that shines a spotlight on select fruits and vegetables to examine possible food safety issues.

Mission Produce has a Super Bowl promotion plan — Emeralds in the End Zone — focusing on 2- and 3-pound bags of “beautifully-blemished avocados.”

London Fruit is offering more items in clamshells, starting with avocados and limes.

Attendees of the United Fresh Produce Association’s BrandStorm 2019 will hear about Super Bowl advertising success from Avocados From Mexico.

Social media, point-of-sale material, influencers and recipes are among the elements Avocados From Mexico will use to promote the fruit in Canada with its new Avotime campaign.

Mexican avocado exports to the U.S. will remain strong in 2018-19, according to a new report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

No one has ever accused me of having amazing kitchen knife skills, even though I love to cook and do it often.

Brockton, Mass.-based Concord Foods is leveraging the popularity of avocados and convenience-oriented produce items to elevate its products, such as guacamole dip spices.

Leaning on big gains in several Northeast markets, sales of avocados continue to outpace total produce sales. 

Mexican avocado shipments will be crossing into the U.S. in earnest Nov. 17, after a late-October growers strike all but dried up the supply chain to retailers and foodservice operators in the U.S.

Workers are harvesting avocados in Mexico again, more than two weeks after a growers’ strike dried up exports to the U.S.

Avocados From Mexico returns to the gridiron again with its fifth Super Bowl ad, a 30-second commercial with an “Always Worth It” theme.

A sure sign of any significant disruption of the avocado market, as our news editor Chris Koger has said more than once, is a story (or a 1,000 stories) about how Chipotle is coping with the shortage.

If a grower’s strike in the Mexican state of Michoacan doesn’t end soon, Mexican avocados will all but disappear from store shelves and menus by Thanksgiving, according to importers.

West Pak Avocado, Murrieta, Calif., returned from the Produce Marketing Association’s Fresh Summit to discuss expo-floor reactions to the retail products at the show, including the launch of a bagged avocado program.

While demand for some organic commodities seems to be leveling off, that doesn’t seem to be the case for organic avocados from Mexico.

Dallas-based Avocados From Mexico took advantage of PMA’s Fresh Summit Convention & Exposition in Orlando, Fla., in October to introduce its new, year-round shopper communication platform, initiatives and partnerships.

U.S. avocado importers were hopeful in late October that a disruption of avocado shipments from Mexico that broke out Oct. 29 would be short-lived.

A group of “dissident growers” of avocados in Mexico are impeding harvest crews from entering orchards, and importers say inventories are dropping quickly.

Mission Produce is asking consumers to go green on Black Friday.

Wrapping up a record-breaking season, Avocados from Peru is partnering with the World Avocado Organization and Fooddeco for “AvoWeen.”

Hispanic households are buying avocados at a rate nearly 50% above non-Hispanic households.

Mission Produce is asking consumers to go green on Black Friday.

The Hass Avocado Board continues its education of food and nutrition professionals by exhibiting at the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics’ Food & Nutrition Conference and Expo.

Peru exported 182 million pounds of avocado to the U.S. this season.

Mission Produce is celebrating its 35th anniversary at the Produce Marketing Association’s Fresh Summit Oct. 18-20 in Orlando, Fla.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has appointed nine members to the Hass Avocado Board.

New Rochelle, N.Y.-based LGS Specialty Sales has announced that its Tiny Tim’s mini avocados are now available in a more economical bag.

Avocados From Mexico will showcase the group’s new year-round shopper communication platform, initiatives, and partnerships at the 2018 Produce Marketing Association Fresh Summit expo.

Temecula, Calif.-based Eco Farms has launched a new website.

Hollister, Calif.-based Berry People is launching its inaugural Chilean blueberry season and its AvoPeople brand organic avocados from both Mexico and Chile.