QUICKLINKS

It was great to see you at HORT CONNECTIONS!

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It was great to see you at HORT CONNECTIONS! 〰️

BANANA OVERVIEW

🍌SUPPLY UPDATE

We have an update on the industry transport figures, with harvest for week 21 at 396,767 cartons of cavendish and in week 22 there were 396,475 ctns transported around Australia. Both of these figures were a slight decrease on the previous fortnight (week 20) which saw a cut of 409,841 cartons. The weather patterns for the last week in the far north have seen early A.M. temperatures have ranged 13.8 - 21.7 C across all major growing regions and day time temperatures have remained warmer ranging 24.9 - 28.3 C. There has been minimal rainfall across the regions of Mareeba and Walkamin with falls of 0mm - 0.2mm; and a slight decrease in the level of rain falls across Innisfail and Tully regions of 12.6 - 21.6mm throughout the week compared with last week.

Retail ticket pricing in Queensland for cavendish bananas has remained stable this week with pricing as follows: Aldi’s banana ticket price at $3.99/kg; Woolies offered fruit at a ticket price of $4.00/kg; and Coles were offering fruit at $4.00/kg in the stores visited. Banana quality in stores still varied, however improved on recent weeks with the only defects being minor neck damage and some minor bronzing. Note i did have the opportunity to duck into a Woolies Metro store in Melbourne during Hort Connections and found bananas retailing at $5.00/kg in Flinders Street. Stores continue to have signage with regards to these defects being indicative of the growing conditions across the country.

BANANA SNAPSHOT

Left to Right: Aldi; Coles and Woolworths Cavendish Displays

AVOCADO OVERVIEW

🥑SUPPLY UPDATE

In a nutshell the national production figures for last week were as follows:

· Week 22, 2024 - The industry saw a 14.96% decrease on the previous week’s harvest with a total of 428,343 tray equivalents harvested and transported (approx 80,000 less tray equivalents) on Week 21, 2024 production. Of the overall total, approximately 124K units were bulks for prepacking and processing; 82K were exported; leaving a total of almost 222K tray equivalents for the domestic market. The national harvest included Hass variety supplying 388,612 tray equivalents along with 5,575 Shepard tray equivalents together with 34,156 trays (inc GMax) of assorted other varieties in this week’s reported figures.

Production across the country saw a new guard in the position of highest productions week with Central Queensland accounting for 49.50% of the total production volume this week, North Queensland accounting for a further 48.72%, then trickles from Sunshine Coast accounting for 0.76%, Southern Queensland with 0.58% and finally Central NSW for 0.32%.

· It is forecast that a total of some 486,000 tray equivalents will be despatched this week (Week 23) nationally. This figure can be broken down by variety with the Hass to contribute approximately 448,000 of this total whilst the Shepard variety expected to represent some 400 tray equivalents and some 37,000 tray equivalents of other varietals (inc GMax) of this total. The focus now is really upon the popular Hass varietal. Production in the next three week window is expected to range between 440 to 470K tray equivalents per week.

In terms of Avocado retail in the major supermarkets in Qld we saw shelf prices as follows - Aldi Hass this week with shelf tickets at $1.19 each; Coles Qld had Hass avocados ticketed at $1.50ea, and Woolworths with Purpleskin Hass at $1.50ea and GMAX avos (larger sizes 14/16/18) at $2.50ea.

AVOCADO SNAPSHOT

Left to Right: Woolworths Hass; Aldi Hass and Coles Hass Avocados in Queensland stores

STOCK IN STORES

QUICKLINKS

🍌Bananas at Woolworths

🥑Avocados at Woolworths

BANANAS AT ALDI

ALDI MT GRAVATT

Cavendish Bananas priced at $3.99/kg - fruit with good colour and much less green tinging this week. Some still with minor neck damage and sooty blotch.
No Havana bananas.

ALDI INDOOROOPILLY

A display of Cavendish Bananas ticketed at $3.99/kg - some green fruit.
No Havana bananas at this store this week.

BANANAS AT COLES

COLES MT GRAVATT

Cavendish on display $4.00/kg, mostly decent colour, some a little dull.
Kids packs priced at $4.00ea.
Red Tips at $5.50/kg (good colour) and Lady Fingers $5.90/kg (no stock though). Organic at $6.00/kg.

COLES INDOOROOPILLY

Cavendish on display $4.00/kg. Kids packs priced at $4.00ea.
Red Tips at $5.50/kg. Lady Fingers $5.90/kg.

BANANAS AT WOOLWORTHS

WOOLWORTHS METRO MELBOURNE

Cavendish priced at $5.00/kg.
Good colour and well stocked, especially for a metro store! Some fruit with minor neck injuries.

WOOLWORTHS MT GRAVATT

The display of Cavendish priced at $4.00/kg. Decent colour- nicely split into ‘Éat now’ and ‘Éat later’. Kids packs at $3.50ea.
Lady Fingers $5.90/kg and Red Tips $5.50/kg. Organic at $6.00/kg.

WOOLWORTHS INDOOROOPILLY

Cavendish bananas priced at $4.00/kg.
Kids packs at $3.50ea.
Lady Fingers at $5.90/kg. Red Tipped at $5.50/kg.
Organic at $6.00/kg.

AVOCADOS AT ALDI