2021-Week 9

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QUICKLINKS

AVOCADO OVERVIEW

SUPPLY UPDATE

The North Qld Shepard season is finally here and Qld takes the lead accounting for 68% of total production last week; followed by New Zealand with 26%; Central Qld supplying 4% and the remaining 2% coming from Central NSW and WA. Pricing has come back in the market place with further shipments of Chilean fruit arriving with fruit still selling from $10.00-$20.00/tray. Premium quality NZ tray fruit still selling in the range of $36 --$40/tray dependent upon size - still moderate volumes of NZ fruit within the marketplace which is expected to continue for at least another couple of weeks. Australian Shepard main sales for premium in the range of $28 -$34/tray. Pricing for class one fruit (main sales) is ranging $20 --$26 per tray; whilst the bulk market has been experiencing prices for premium in the range of $40 --$45/ctn and for class one and 2nds $10 --$30/ctn.

New season North Qld Shepard avocados, have again increased slightly in volume climbing from of 145,000 trays to 176,000 last week with a predicted 220,000 for next week from the region. Presentation is generally good with fruit having good shape and glossy skins. A number of farms, including our own, have had issues with spotting bug, despite implementing preventative spraying programmes as well as control spraying as populations have been detected. We have reset our grading cameras and trained staff in detection, in an effort to remove as many affected pieces as we possibly can. Rain in the region has continued to impact harvesting for a number of farms this week with 40-50mm in most areas - it is North Qld after all! With increased rain during harvest periods there is an increased risk of development of rots, so the application of approved fungicide treatments in the wash is a must.

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. Aldi this week still had NZ fruit filling their order for their 6 piece bags.

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-$2.20 ea whilst Coles in Qld were still displaying NZ Skylark Hass with pricing of $2.00ea - most observed fruit was of sound quality, odd findings of body rot and bruising and a low level of lenticel damage.

SUPERMARKET PRICING FOR THIS WEEK  

RETAIL SNAPSHOTS OF AVOCADOS

Above: Coles Gleneg SA, Carindale and Greenslopes Displays

  • Loose Shepards $2.00ea in SA and Greenslopes and $1.80 at Carindale, mix of ripe and firm fruit

  • Carindale had Hass for $2.00ea also

  • 1kg netted bags at $10.50 ea

  • $7.50 for 5 piece nets in QLD

Above: Aldi Carindale and Drewvale Displays

  • Stores stocked both NQ Shepards @ $1.799ea and 6 piece Hass at $7.99

  • All fruit was well stocked and of good quality and colour with minimal bruising/damage

Above: Woolworths Gleneg SA, Carindale and Parkinson

  • All stores had Shepard avocados at $2.20ea

  • 5 piece packs at $7.50

  • 1kg Odd Bunch packs at $9.50

  • Organic Hass 3 packs @ $9.00ea

BANANA OVERVIEW

SUPPLY UPDATE

The national banana cut last week reduced slightly by -6,764 cartons to a total of 458,276 cartons which represents a decrease of 1.4% on the previous week. National production was expected next week to be within the range of 450-470K cartons however with the devastating wind storm associated with offshore tropical low (Cyclone Niran) this will result in much more fruit on the market than first forecast, as growers try to tidy their farms in the days following these storms. The weather in the past week has been nothing short of unbelievable and as a result farms suffered losses in the range of 5 to 100%, depending upon their location in relation to the funneling winds. The ground was already soft from decent rainfalls in the preceding weeks and with winds up to speeds of 90-120km/hr in the region many banana plants simply bent in half and some plants were rolled over. Growing regions including Cowley, Mourilyan and Innisfail were some of the worst hit, but the reach of these storms was quite astounding with our own farm at Mareeba also suffering a loss of approximately 20% of the plants under production. The rain continued to fall intermittently in North Qld last week with a further recordings of 40 -70 mm in both Mareeba and Walkamin since last Wednesday; whilst Innisfail had approx. 250mm for the week; and the Tully region had a little less with approx. 120mm for the week.

Whilst quality on shelf this week was a little better than last week, quality in general continues to be quite mixed on shelf with bat and bird damage, sap staining and minor skin marking detracting from some displays. There is also a presence of dull fruit perhaps relating to fruit age and storage conditions. On our own farms, we continue to grade heavily for bat scratching with this issue expected for another five to six weeks. In addition to the loss as a result of the tropical low, waste relating to grade outs of bat marked fruit has been 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 significantly between the major supermarkets with Aldi's ticket price at $2.99/kg; Woolworths at $3.00 to $3.90/kg and Coles offering fruit at $2.00 to $3.50/kg dependent upon the store locality. Quality also 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 Gleneg SA, Carindale and Greenslopes

  • Gleneg and Greenslopes were retailing Cavendish @ $3.90 per kg- some minor neck injury, sap staining and scarring was visible. Fruit on display at Carindale was selling at $3.00 per kg

  • Greenslopes Coles also had Lady Fingers priced at $7.90 (although very low stock) and kids packs on sale at $1.95.

Above: Aldi Carindale and Drewvale

  • Both stores had Cavendish @ $2.99, some with skin markings and sap staining as well as some backward fruit

  • Lady Finger bananas were priced @ $5.99

Above: Woolworths Gleneg SA, Carindale and Parkinson

  • Carindale and Parkinson stores had Cavendish bananas priced @ $3.00 per kg and Lil Sana packs also at $3.00 whilst Gleneg SA Woolworths has Cavendish at $3.90 per kg and Lil Sana packs at $2.50.

  • Gleneg Woolworths had Lady Fingers at $7.90/kg whilst Carindale had Lady Fingers at $6.90

  • Carindale had Red tips at $4.50/kg