In this installment of the ‘Agronometrics In Charts’ series, Sarah Ilyas studies the state of the Mexican avocado season. Each week the series looks at a different horticultural commodity, focusing on a specific origin or topic visualizing the market factors that are driving change.

Guacamole has permeated US culture and is deemed an important snack in the United States, especially during the Super Bowl. Mexico continues to top the charts as the world’s top avocado exporter, with over 6,720 million pounds shipped in the past 3 years.

The U.S. market currently accounts for 80% of this volume. For the first time this February, football fans in the United States will be devouring bowls of guacamole prepared with avocados cultivated in Jalisco. Around 500 containers of avocados are being sent north for sale during the Super Bowl weekend, according to the Association of Avocado Producers and Packers of Jalisco (Apeajal). Mexican producers export 1.68 million tonnes of avocados per year worldwide — to 34 countries around the world; only Michoacán and Jalisco, however, are currently allowed to export avocados to the U.S. 

According to projections by the Hass Avocado Board, 70,484,588 pounds are slated to be exported to the US from Mexico during the week ending January 29, 55,568,624 pounds are expected for the week ending February 5 and 45,491,398 pounds are projected to be shipped during the week ending February 12. "We have increased the number of tons for export, seeking 130 thousand in this very important season for the avocado.

This kickoff symbolizes that this industry is always thinking about its final market, its consumer,” said APEAM president Jose Luis Gallardo. "This season the confidence of foreign producers, packers, and consumers has recovered, increasing the number of tons for export," said the governor of Michoacán, Alfredo Ramírez.

Source: USDA Market News via Agronometrics.

(Agronometrics users can view this chart with live updates here)

Mexico currently has a stronghold on the market, as other suppliers, such as California, are slated to begin shipping formally in March. California has a relatively small harvest, and the present FOB prices do not encourage early harvesting. Patrick Lucy, president of Del Rey Avocado said FOB prices for avocados were mostly $20s, allowing for great retail pricing. He added that organic avocados were selling for $6/$7 more than that for each size and pack category, but that was also a very attractive price from rich retailers that could offer ad pricing. 

The new color of the most popular avocado brand, Avocados From Mexico emulates the brilliant hues of a fully ripe avocado. And just in time for the Big Game, AFM is bringing the hue to life by presenting the Avocado Glow Collection, an exclusive range of home and kitchen items inspired by the new color developed in collaboration with the PANTONE Color Institute.

Source: USDA Market News via Agronometrics.

(Agronometrics users can view this chart with live updates here)

In our ‘In Charts’ series, we work to tell some of the stories that are moving the industry. Feel free to take a look at the other articles by clicking here.

All pricing for domestic US produce represents the spot market at Shipping Point (i.e. packing house/climate controlled warehouse, etc.). For imported fruit, the pricing data represents the spot market at Port of Entry.

You can keep track of the markets daily through Agronometrics, a data visualization tool built to help the industry make sense of the huge amounts of data that professionals need to access to make informed decisions. If you found the information and the charts from this article useful, feel free to visit us at www.agronometrics.com where you can easily access these same graphs, or explore the other 21 commodities we currently track.