Avocados and avocado prices

[rotuts]

Yikes

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/why-are-avocados-expensive_us_5797b683e4b0d3568f84c72e

 

interesting Rx's when they get back to 4 for a dollar

[Darienne]

Yikes?  Try buying avocados where I live and have never ever seen them 4 for a dollar.   Cheapest ever was probably 79 cents a piece.

[Tri2Cook]

Current (and usual) price for avocados where I live is $2.99 each. They were on sale last week for $1.99 each so I grabbed a few for the guacamole I'm making today. The cheapest I've ever seen them here was 3 for $4 and I've seen that exactly once. 

[chileheadmike]

I occasionally see them 2 for $1. They're usually close to $3 each.

[Anna N]

 Don't think I've ever seen them for less than one dollar each and that very rarely but I'm not fond of avocados so I might've missed something better.

[Mysstwalker]

I got some at Costco, a bag of five nice ones were just under 10 bucks. Worth it when you are a California transplant in Kansas and craving avocado.

[Dave the Cook]

5 hours ago, rotuts said:

Yikes

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/why-are-avocados-expensive_us_5797b683e4b0d3568f84c72e

 

interesting Rx's when they get back to 4 for a dollar

 

I'll point out, gently, that the linked article is almost ten months old, making it, according to the article, two harvests ago.

 

As for 4/$1 avocados, I can't recall having ever seen them that cheap. Just prior to the big avocado holidays (Super Bowl and Cinco de Mayo), they might go as low as 50 cents each, I suspect as a loss leader. Usually, they hover between US$1 and 1.50 each, unless you're in the market for a half-dozen. Since we rarely buy more than one at a time, the difference isn't worth worrying about too much. I don't recall prices spiking last summer, but maybe I missed it. 

[blue_dolphin]

11 minutes ago, Dave the Cook said:

I don't recall prices spiking last summer, but maybe I missed it

 

Avocado prices did go up around here last summer but as this article in Fortune shows, they are even higher now.

Small-med size avocados that used to be 3/$1 at my local Farmers market are now $1 each.

 

[Katie Meadow]

Avocado prices have risen steadily every year at the Berkeley Farmers' Market. I've been buying from the same vendor who grows them in southern CA for years. They are awfully good, but they have never been cheap. I was back at the market yesterday for the first time in months and every single item we bought was substantially higher than I remember from last summer. Lovely red and yellow spring onions were $4 lb. I nearly cried, but I bought a few.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Two for $5.00 locally tonight.  Ask me about limes.

 

Last I looked amazon had good prices on avocadoes and amazon's avocado quality has been excellent.

 

[liuzhou]

Looks like it may be my fault.

 

Is China to blame for the global avocado shortage?

 

Avocado imports soar as China develops taste for ‘butter fruit’

 

Certainly, only two years ago avos were rare indeed. Even when they did turn up no one, including the vendors,  knew what they were or how to deal with them. Now they are everywhere. No one know what to do with them yet, though.

 

[Nancy in Pátzcuaro]

Here in Pátzcuaro avocado prices rise and fall depending on the harvest. Right now I saw 30 pesos a kilo, which is high, but we are between major harvests and thus the price rises. Basic economics-- supply and demand. I do remember the first time we went back to the US and I came home from the store and said to my husband--"Avocados are a dollar apiece!" Apparently those were the days. But there is no substitute for avocado, and so we pay.

th

[dcarch]

Two more reasons why avocados keep rising in price:

 

1. Avocados for sushi making really is a new thing, and sushi is getting more and more popular.

2. People for some fetish squeeze every avocado in the basket before they buy one. Stop avocado abuse!

 

dcarch

 

Edited May 22, 2017 by dcarch (log)

[rotuts]

@liuzhou  

 

might be right.

 

some time ago , my sister lived in the Austin TX area.  

 

in her town there were pecan trees lining the parks and public area's

 

you just went out and picked them up off the ground in the fall.

 

talk about fresh !

 

she also sent me several bags of two varieties around Christmas

 

those bags were not expensive.

 

then  there developed a taste for them in China.

 

the prices rose considerably and the growers did much better  ( thgouhg a middle man of course ) 

 

and pecans doubled if not more so in price.

 

I think the same think happened 20 years ago or so with Maple syrup.

 

 

[liuzhou]

2 hours ago, rotuts said:

@liuzhou  

 

might be right.

 

some time ago , my sister lived in the Austin TX area.  

 

in her town there were pecan trees lining the parks and public area's

 

you just went out and picked them up off the ground in the fall.

 

talk about fresh !

 

she also sent me several bags of two varieties around Christmas

 

those bags were not expensive.

 

then  there developed a taste for them in China.

 

the prices rose considerably and the growers did much better  ( thgouhg a middle man of course ) 

 

and pecans doubled if not more so in price.

 

I think the same think happened 20 years ago or so with Maple syrup.

 

 

 

All the pecans I've seen in China were imported from Australia and I've never seen maple syrup in China (and I was here 20 years ago).

 

Pecans are also only available from speciality shops. I'd guess few people know anything about them. Avocados are in every supermarket now.

Edited May 22, 2017 by liuzhou (log)

[Cyberider]

Occasionally find them as cheap as six for 96 cents at one of the Mexican markets here in AZ.  Frequently get four or five for a dollar.  Haven't noticed any sales in the past month, though, so maybe something has changed.

[Katie Meadow]

Sushi may be partly to blame, but my money's on avocado toast. I've been checking out places to eat in Santa Monica and Venice. There isn't a restaurant in the area that doesn't serve avocado toast for breakfast and lunch. And it ain't cheap.

[liuzhou]

The avos here are going at the equivalent of $2 a pop. The cheapest I remember seeing them was $1.30 last summer.

 

But, of course shipping costs to China are much higher.

[robirdstx]

What size avocados are being referenced in the prices mentioned? My grocery store typically offers small to medium size avocados, that are a product of Mexico, in a range of 50 to 79 cents each, while the larger ones range from one to two dollars each.

[liuzhou]

8 minutes ago, robirdstx said:

What size avocados are being referenced in the prices mentioned? My grocery store typically offers small to medium size avocados, that are a product of Mexico, in a range of 50 to 79 cents each, while the larger ones range from one to two dollars each.

 

In my case, I'd say medium. From Mexico or Chile. Occasionally Peru.

[Cyberider]

Small to medium in my case.

[dcarch]

29 minutes ago, Cyberider said:

Small to medium in my case.

I may be wrong, but size may not have that much to do with prices.

 

There are many varieties of avocados, they are fairly uniform in size of the same variety. 

 

Hass is very small, but more expensive than Florida avocados which are three times the size.

 

dcarch

 

[scubadoo97]

The Hass has been spotted at that $1.69 price here in Fla.  If I I needed one I would buy it.  Spent more on less in the past.  

[robirdstx]

Size differences in avocados: http://www.calavo.com/store/sizes.html

[Thanks for the Crepes]

I only buy the Hass now after trying the Florida rounder and larger version years ago. They are two very different vegetables with Hass being so far up my food chain as to obscure the FL type to permanent oblivion.

 

Hass had been running for 99 cents for a long time at the low end grocer and double that at the high end (what isn't?). The last one I bought was $1.49 at the low end grocer. I just hope the farmers are getting some of the windfall, because they deserve it. They are probably selling them for 20 cents now instead of the 10 they were getting. 

 

I'm very envious of you that can buy them so cheaply and that is probably a function of being closer to the source. So many more people do not have to wet their beaks in the process of distribution.