There is little doubt that supermarkets across the country will be promoting avocados in early May to capitalize on the party-crazy, Cinco de Mayo-inspired celebrations. Tequila will surely be flowing and guacamole will be featured in parties all over the land.
While the date actually memorializes a famous battle during Mexico’s fight for independence, most people think it is Mexico’s independence day. In the United States, people could be forgiven if they think it is national avocado day.
Rob Wedin, vice president of fresh sales and marketing for Calavo Growers Inc., based in Santa Maria, CA, told The Produce News in mid-March that he was already writing sales commitments for retailers for the period leading up to Cinco de Mayo.
Wedin indicated that most retailers try to get their orders in early as they can, as they know it is a heavy consumption period. “It’s right up there along with Super Bowl and the 4th of July” for avocado consumption, he said.
Alvaro Luque, president of Avocados From Mexico, said growers of the immensely popular fruit will do their part.
“This has already been a phenomenal year for Avocados From Mexico with more than 500 million pounds of fresh avocados imported to date with projected record numbers for the fiscal year going over 2 billion pounds for the first time,” he said. “We foresee strong numbers leading into the popular Cinco de Mayo holiday, in upwards of 200 million pounds for the month of April.”
The promotional arm of the Mexican avocado industry is preparing to help move that fruit by encouraging promotions and running several of its own.
“We have some exciting Cinco de Mayo national and regional promotions that will be supported with advertising, PR and social media,” said Chad Darwin, director of marketing for AFM.
However, he was not yet ready on March 19 to reveal the details of the group’s top promotion, which will be a tie-in event with a chip company. He did say that one of the most expansive promotions would be with the Tostitos brand, with the details revealed in mid-April.
Noting that Mexico is expected to ship 200 million pounds to the U.S. market in April, and almost a 100 million pounds in the two weeks leading up to May 5, Wedin is still worried that there may not be enough fruit to meet the demand. He revealed that ad pricing being given in March for that late April/early May period does include a pricing structure higher than what currently exists.
Wedin said the f.o.b. market price on Mexican avocados, which are dominating the marketplace, were strengthening as March moved toward April.
The Hass Avocado Board is estimating 50 million pound weeks for each of the first two April weeks, but the third week will see a significant drop in supplies because it is Easter Week, a very important religious holiday in Mexico. Seemingly the entire nation, including avocado workers, takes half of the week off.
The week ending on Easter Sunday, April 21, is expected to see only about 27.5 million pounds shipped into the United States.
California’s avocado volume will no doubt be on the rise, but with a short crop and many growers planning to wait on picking until a bit later in the year, even the addition of the Golden State production will not result in heavy supplies. Total supplies for that week will probably be less than 35 million pounds. What that means is moving into the last week of April, inventories will be down and demand will be up.
“The market could very well be much stronger,” said Wedin.
It is one reason Calavo, and probably most avocado handlers, were already writing ad orders for Cinco de Mayo in March.
