2021-Week6
/QUICKLINKS
AVOCADO OVERVIEW
SUPPLY UPDATE
Fruit still primarily coming from New Zealand accounting for 47% of the production this week; followed by North Qld with 33%; WA who contributed 18% and the remaining 2% coming from Central NSW. Pricing is vey mixed in the market place Chilean fruit is selling from $5.00/tray, NZ fruit with colour is selling $8 --$10/tray whilst there is still some Australian Hass selling up to $65.00/tray and new season Shepards main sales for premium in the range of $42 --$50/tray last week. New season North Qld Shepards, have increased slightly in volume, lifting last week to 93K trays from the region. Presentation is generally very good. Rain in the region last week hampered picking a little but rather than prolonged periods of wet weather, it has been the isolated day of heavy rain e.g. up to 70mm on Wednesday in Mareeba. More rain is predicted for late this week. Supply is expected to increase steadily over the next few weeks. Premium quality NZ tray fruit still selling in the range of $40 --$50/tray dependent upon size this is not expected to hold and may come back by the end of the week. Pricing for class one fruit (main sales) is ranging $28 --$36 per tray; whilst the bulk market has been experiencing prices for premium in the range of $45 --$55/ctn and for class one and 2nds $8 --$20/ctn. There is limited supply of suitably sized Shepards for formulation of prepacks at this stage of the season as most growers are still only spot picking larger fruit and as such New Zealand sourced fruit continues to be the sole supply when it comes to the formulation of 5 and 6 piece value propositions for all major supermarkets on the east coast of Australia. The major supermarkets are intending to changeover to Shepard prepack options at the end of this month.
In terms of Hass retail pricing in Qld shelf prices were as follows Aldi had the best retail offer of count 23/25's at $2.49ea whilst Coles had fruit at $2.90 ea and Woolworths had a ticket price of $2.70ea to $3.00ea. Whilst both Coles and Aldi were still primarily offering NZ Hass, Woolworths Qld had good Shepard Avocado displays taking front and centre these were priced the same as Hass in stores that stocked both. Fruit quality on display this week saw a reasonable mix of maturity on offer, with some ready to eat now in most stores frequented.
SUPERMARKET PRICING FOR THIS WEEK
RETAIL SNAPSHOTS OF AVOCADOS
Above: Coles Cooparoo and Coles Woodridge Displays
Loose NZ Skylark Hass $2.90ea at both stores, mix of ripe and firm fruit
5 pack netted bags at $9.90 ea, odd piece squashed within bag
Above: Aldi Coorparoo and Aldi Woodridge Stores
Aldi Coorparoo stocked both NZ Hass @ $2.79 and NQ Shepards @ $2.49ea, the Shepards were much fresher, with Hass being 26 days old
Aldi Woodridge only stocked NZ Hass from Avoco (Skylark fruit) selling @ $2.49ea
Both stores has 6 piece nets of NZ Hass retailing @ $8.99
Woolworths woodridge
Above: Woolworths Coorparoo and Woolworths Woodridge
Woolworths Coorparoo had a new season Shepard display positioned prominently in the department but unfortunately had the Hass header card still displayed, count 20 fruit packed 28th Jan from Greenskins meant that fruit was 13 days old, selling @ $3.00ea. Presence of minor skin marking and odd piece developing rot.
Woolworths Woodridge also had new season NQ Shepards selling @ $2.70ea, supplied by Costas- fruit from DBC Farming and Avocado Estates, count 28, packed the 20th Jan therefore 21 days old
Woolworths Woodridge also had on offer 1kg odd bunch bags of Shepards, no price ticket on display
BANANA OVERVIEW
SUPPLY UPDATE
The national banana cut last week increased by 45,784 cartons to a total of 447,676 cartons which represents an increase of 11.39% on the previous week. National production is expected to be similar next week. The weather in the past week has seen minimum temps of 19.8 - 24.0C and maximum day temps of 30.5 to 33.4C across all North Qld growing regions. North Qld also experienced a couple of days of heavier rainfall with 74.4 mm in Mareeba last Wednesday; whilst the Tully region had a total of 210mm for the week with the heaviest day being Saturday with guage readings of 70.8mm; meanwhile Innisfail had a total of 149.6mm with the heaviest day also being Saturday with a fall of 75.2mm. There is further rain forecast for late this week, if heavy then there is a high risk of flooding, particularly in the Tully district.
Quality has been quite mixed with bat and bird damage prevalent, sap staining and minor skin marking detracting from fruit appearance. Farms affected by bats are wasting an additional 10-15% on top of their normal grade-outs as a result of the damage this protected species is causing.
Retail ticket pricing in Queensland for cavendish varied significantly between the major supermarkets with Aldi's ticket price at $2.49/kg; Woolworths at $3.00/kg and Coles offering fruit at $3.90/kg. Quality also varied greatly with a number of lines of fruit having visible skin marking, sap staining, neck injuries and rub marking - Aldi stores in general tended to be offering fruit that was grey in appearance (suggesting this had been chilled in storage) with some clusters splitting.
RETAIL SNAPSHOT OF BANANAS
cOLES WOODRIDGE
Above: Coles Coorparoo and Coles Woodridge
Both stores were retailing Cavendish @ $3.90 per kg- minor neck injury, sap staining, scarring were visible. Fruit on display at Cooparoo was grey with some overfull fingers found splitting.
Both stores also retailing the 750g kids banded clusters @ $3.90ea, these were also exhibiting minor skin marking
Lady Fingers selling @ $6.90 per kg, stock was backward at Coorparoo
Above: Aldi Coorparoo and Aldi Woodridge
Both stores had Cavendish @ $2.49, with skin markings and sap staining
‘Lil Snackers’ packs were retailed @ $2.49 also
Lady Finger bananas were priced @ $5.99, some with skin markings
Above: Woolworths Coorparoo and Woolworths Woodridge
Both stores had Cavendish bananas priced @ $3.00 per kg
Kids packs were also @ $3.00 while Organic variety were priced @ $4.50 and Lady Fingers @ $7.90