2021-Week 7

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QUICKLINKS

AVOCADO OVERVIEW

SUPPLY UPDATE

Fruit still primarily coming from New Zealand accounting for 56% of the production last week; followed by North Qld with 34%; WA’s contribution has fallen to 8% and the remaining 2% coming from Central NSW/Tristate regions. Pricing is vey mixed in the market place Chilean fruit is selling from $5.00-$20.00/tray, NZ fruit is selling $10 --$40/tray whilst there is still some Australian Hass selling up to $60.00/tray and new season Shepards main sales for premium in the range of $40 --$45/tray last week. New season North Qld Shepards, have again increased slightly in volume and this is expected to gradually climb reaching approximately 250,000 trays per week in another two - three weeks time to be harvested/ week. Presentation is generally good with fruit having good shape and glossy skins. Rain in the region has continued to impact harvesting for a number of farms this week, with some very heavy falls today up to 83mm and more expected in the latter part of the week. Premium quality NZ tray fruit still selling in the range of $40 --$45/tray dependent upon size - still good volumes of NZ fruit within the marketplace which is expected to continue for at least another fortnight. Pricing for class one fruit (main sales) is ranging $26 --$34 per tray; whilst the bulk market has been experiencing prices for premium in the range of $38 --$40/ctn and for class one and 2nds $10 --$25/ctn. The availability of suitably sized Shepards for formulation of prepacks at this stage of the season whilst is picking up slowly is still limited as most growers are still focusing on picking larger fruit and allowing smaller fruit to continue to size up on the tree. New Zealand sourced fruit continues to be the main supply when it comes to the formulation of 5 and 6 piece value propositions for all major supermarkets on the east coast of Australia with changeover to Shepard prepack options expected at the end of this month.

In terms of Shepard retail pricing in Qld shelf prices were as follows: Aldi had celebrated the commencement of their Shepard season with a catalogue price special on count 23/25's at $1.99ea; whilst Woolworths had prominently positioned instore displays of Shepards ticketed at $2.50 ea. Coles in Qld were still displaying NZ Skylark Hass on shelf with a multi-purchase offer of 2 for $5.00 or if purchased singularly $2.90ea - this fruit was of sound quality but quite firm. Fruit quality on display this week in general, saw a reasonable mix of maturity, the Shepards on display in Woolworths stores were of mixed quality - with the presence of some anthracnose rot and breakdown found throughout trays in the stores visited.

SUPERMARKET PRICING FOR THIS WEEK  

RETAIL SNAPSHOTS OF AVOCADOS

Above: Coles Kenmore, Indooroopilly and Garden City Displays

  • Loose NZ Skylark Hass $2.90ea or 2 for $5 at stores, mix of ripe and firm fruit

  • 5 pack netted bags at $8.90 ea

Above: Aldi Calamvale, Indooroopilly and Garden City Stores

  • Aldi Indooroopilly stocked both NZ Hass @ $2.49 and NQ Shepards @ $1.99ea

  • Aldi Calamvale and Garden City only stocked NZ Hass from Avoco (Skylark fruit) selling @ $2.49ea

  • All stores had 6 piece nets of NZ Hass retailing @ $8.99

Woolworths KENMORE

Above: Woolworths Kenmore, Indooroopilly and Garden City

  • Woolworths Kenmore had a new season Shepard display positioned prominently in the department, count 23 fruit packed 29th Jan from Greenskins meant that fruit was 18 days old, selling @ $2.20ea.

  • Woolworths Indooroopilly also had new season NQ Shepards selling @ $2.50ea, from Greenskins, count 20 packed on the 2nd of Feb, this fruit displayed some significant bruising with some squashed fruit

  • Woolworths Garden City also had Shepard avocados on display, priced at $2.50ea

BANANA OVERVIEW

SUPPLY UPDATE

The national banana cut last week increased by 32,812 cartons to a total of 480,488 cartons which represents a further increase of 7.3% on the previous week. National production is expected to be within the range of 460-480K cartons next week. The weather in the past week has seen minimum temps of 20.5 - 24.7C and maximum day temps of 28.3 to 32.3C across all North Qld growing regions. North Qld also experienced a couple of days of heavier rainfall with 3.4 mm in Mareeba last Wednesday; whilst the Tully region since Monday has had a further rainfall of 143mm for the week up to today with the heaviest day being today with guages reading of 83.2mm; meanwhile Innisfail had a further fall of 42.4mm today. There is further rain forecast for Friday and Saturday, if this continues to be in the vicinity of 80-100mm per day there is a high risk of flooding, particularly in the Tully district.

Quality has been quite mixed with bat and bird damage seen on shelves, a little rust thrip damage, sap staining and minor skin marking detracting from fruit appearance. Our own farm has been affected by bats and we are wasting in the vicinity of 30-40% of each days pack out due to the amount of damage. Our Farm Manager and his packing team are working hard to grade out as much as possible so that our fruit has good shelf appearance and will still meet quality specifications. Dependent upon the direction the bat population are travelling, some blocks are worse affected than others.

Retail ticket pricing in Queensland for cavendish varied significantly between the major supermarkets with Aldi's ticket price at $2.99/kg; Woolworths at $3.00/kg and Coles offering fruit at $3.00 to $3.90/kg. Quality also varied greatly with a number of lines having visible skin marking, sap staining, rust thrip damage, neck injuries and rub marking - it was also noted that a number of stores had fruit with girths that exceeded spec.

RETAIL SNAPSHOT OF BANANAS

cOLES indooroopilly

Above: Coles Kenmore, Indooroopilly and Garden City

  • All stores were retailing Cavendish @ $3.90 per kg- some minor neck injury, sap staining, scarring were visible. Fruit on display at Kenmore was grey with some overfull fingers found splitting.

  • Both stores also retailing the 750g kids banded clusters @ $3.00ea

  • Lady Fingers selling @ $7.90 per kg and Red Tips at $5.00

Above: Aldi Calamvale, Indooroopilly and Garden City

  • All stores had Cavendish @ $2.99, some with skin markings and sap staining

  • Lady Finger bananas were priced @ $5.99, some also with skin markings

Above: Woolworths Kenmore, Indooroopilly and Garden City

  • All stores had Cavendish bananas priced @ $3.00 per kg

  • Kids packs were also @ $3.00 while Organic variety and red tips were priced @ $4.50 and Lady Fingers @ $6.90