2021-Week 11

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QUICKLINKS

AVOCADO OVERVIEW

SUPPLY UPDATE

North Qld maintains the lead in production with their Shepard season accounting for 79% of total production last week; followed by Central Qld with 17%; with the remaining 4% coming from Central NSW and New Zealand. Pricing has continued its downward trend as volumes increase in the market place. Australian Shepard main sales for premium are in the range of $26 -$33/tray, odd $34 around. Pricing for class one fruit (main sales) is ranging $18 --$22 per tray; whilst the bulk market has been experiencing prices for premium in the range of $40 --$45/ctn and for class one and 2nd bulks $10 --$30/ctn.

North Qld Shepard avocados are expected to again increase in numbers this coming week with a forecast of 270,000 trays from the region. The forecast for the next two week period shows the tray volume starting to decline slightly with 250,000 expected next week and then 200,000 the week after. Presentation in stores this week was again generally good with fruit having good shape and glossy skins. A number of farms, including our own, have had issues with spotting bug - it is essential we grade out any affected pieces as they are deemed by all the major chains as unacceptable.

The availability of suitably sized Australian Shepards for formulation of prepacks is seeing both the 5 pack options and 1kg bags starting to be stocked on supermarket shelves. All major supermarkets now have their 5 or 6 piece prepack offers filled with shepards. Both Coles and Woolworths have 1kg options on offer with respective Ïm Perfect or Odd Bunch also filled with shepard avocados.

In terms of Shepard retail pricing in Qld shelf prices were as follows: Aldi Qld price was a competitive $1.79 per piece; Woolworths Qld had prominently positioned instore displays of Shepards ticketed at $2.00 ea whilst Coles in Qld had Shepards with a ticket of 2 for $4.00 or $2.20 singularly. The majority of fruit was of sound quality, odd findings of skin marking and a low level of lenticel damage.

SUPERMARKET & MARKET PRICING FOR NEXT WEEK  

RETAIL SNAPSHOTS OF AVOCADOS

Above: Coles Springwood, Ipswich and Browns Plains Displays

  • Coles stores had Shepard avocado variety priced at $2.20ea or multibuy offer 2 for $4.00

  • All stores had 1kg Odd Bunch packs for $7.50

  • Coles Springwood had 5 piece packs at $8.90

Above: Aldi Springwood, Ipswich and Browns Plains Displays

  • Stores stocked both NQ Shepards @ $1.79ea and 6 piece Shepard at $7.99

  • All fruit was well stocked and of good quality and colour with minimal bruising/damage - odd piece found with body rot.

Above: Woolworths Springwood, Ipswich and Browns Plains Displays

  • All stores had Shepard avocados at $2.00ea

  • 5 piece packs at $7.00-8.00

  • 1kg Odd Bunch packs at $8.00

BANANA OVERVIEW

SUPPLY UPDATE

The national banana cut last week was still in recovery mode post the tropical low, known as Cyclone Niran, with a increase of 5.2% on the previous week which equated to an additional 18,149 cartons, meaning the total was just nudging over 364,000. National production is expected to be within the range of 380-400K cartons next week. The weather in the past week has been milder with minimum temperatures ranging 18.5 - 22.7C and maximum day temps of 29.8 to 31.4C. There was definitely less rain in the far north with just a few light showers mainly in the Innisfail and Tully regions, though Walkamin did have a storm early in the week.

Quality on shelf this week was again disappointing with grey to bronzed dull, marked fruit being a common finding - this is most likely as a result of recent weather conditions. On our own farms, we continue to grade heavily for bat scratching with this issue expected for another three to four weeks. Waste relating to grade outs of bat marked fruit continues to be in the vicinity of 30-35% of each days pack out - we will continue to be vigilant in this respect to ensure inclusion in our carton is kept to an acceptable level.

Retail ticket pricing in Queensland for cavendish varied between the major supermarkets with Aldi offering fruit at $3.29/kg; Woolworths at $3.30 to $3.90/kg and Coles offering fruit at $3.50 to $3.90/kg dependent upon the store locality. As already stated, quality varied greatly with a number of lines having visible skin marking including bat scratching, sap staining, rust thrip damage, neck injuries and rub marking.








RETAIL SNAPSHOT OF BANANAS

Above: Coles Springwood, Ipswich and Browns Plains Displays

  • Cavendish was priced at $3.50 at the Ipswich store, and $3.90 at Springwood and Browns Plains, with Kids 750g packs at the same prices respectively

  • Lady Fingers were $7.90 across the board

  • Quite a lot of stock was backwards and some serious sap staining and bat marking was evident on both cavendish and lady fingers.

Above: Aldi Springwood, Ipswich and Browns Plains Displays

  • All stores had Cavendish @ $3.29, some with skin markings and sap staining as well as quite a lot of backward fruit

  • Lady Finger bananas were priced @ $5.99

Above: Woolworths Springwood, Ipswich and Browns Plains Displays

  • Woolworths had Cavendish bananas priced at $3.30 and kids packs also at $3.30

  • Lady fingers were priced at $7.90 and the Browns Plains store also stocked Red tip variety, ticketed at $4.50