QUICKLINKS

BANANA OVERVIEW

🍌SUPPLY UPDATE

National Banana transport figures for week 4 are 558,596 cartons which is 45K cartons up on last week. Weather patterns in the major growing regions included continued warm temperatures and rain this week perfect for banana growing. emperatures in the far north have seen early A.M. temperatures fall within a range of 19.1 - 25.2 C across all major growing regions; and day time temperatures ranging 26.8 - 31.8 C. Rainfall in North Qld banana growing regions this week with the presence of a Tropical Low off the coast has been rather heavy as follows: Mareeba and Walkamin 2.4 - 64.4mm of rain daily with Mareeba receiving 133mm for the week from Monday 27th Jan; and Innisfail and Tully regions with a 14.5-211.8mm/day with Innisfail receiving a total of 400.6mm and Tully receiving 500.8mm for the week thus far up to 12 noon today, 31st Jan. Whilst Friday’s rainfall was definitely much lighter but there is concern that more rain has been forecast for the weekend. This indeed was the case with with a further 60mm falling across Mareeba and in the vicinity of 333mm and 384mm across the weekend and today for Tully/Innisfail. Swelling of local waterways and sodden landscapes have resulted in flooding of roads and major highways which will impact the distribution of produce south. All transporters are seeking alternate routes but even roads are cut to the likes of Charters Towers which was one alternate pathway used in the last tropical low. We will continue to monitor the weather and advise accordingly but for the start of Week 6 there will be no harvesting/packing until routes re-open.

Quality is consistent with mostly good colour and minimal skin marking - some rust thrip damage, minor rub damage etc seen this week.

Retail ticket pricing in Queensland for cavendish bananas see’s all the major chains with a BACK TO SCHOOL SPECIAL with pricing as follows: Aldi’s banana ticket price at $2.79/kg; Woolies offered fruit at a ticket price of $2.50/kg (also have taken a feature advertisement on television); and Coles were offering fruit at $2.50/kg in the stores visited. Best in show was definitely Woolies Mt Gravatt Westfield, great effort by the team at this store.

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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 4, 2025 - The industry experienced a 20.37% decrease in production on the previous week’s harvest with a total of 382,365 tray equivalents harvested and transported (approx 98,000 less tray equivalents) on Week 3, 2024 production.

Production across the country saw WA/NT continue their lead in production - accounting for 70.91% of the total volume, followed by NZ accounting for a further 18.94%, then Central NSW accounting for 5.09%, and lastly Tristate with 4.82% of the total production for the week.

· It is forecast that a total of some 446,000 tray equivalents will be dispatched this week (Week 5) nationally, with the majority of these being Hass combined with a light start to the NQ Shepard Avocado season. Production for the next three week period thereafter, is expected to fall within the range of 334 to 440K tray equivalents per week. We have seen the first trickle of Shepard avocados arrive on the Brisbane market this week, not a lot of volume at this stage and as such, pricing is a little difficult to gauge with the volume of WA and NZ hass still on the market. As supplies of Hass decline over the next fortnight to three weeks on the east coast, demand will lift for the new season Shepard. We expect more Shepards to be harvested over the next two - three weeks to meet ripening programme requirements. Our growers have been asked to ensure fruit from all farms/blocks have been submitted for dry matter testing before harvesting commences and that they test a range of sizes, including smaller sizes fruit which are used in the prepacks, to ensure what we do harvest is exceeding minimum dry matter requirements for our customers positive eating experience. Dry matter testing has commenced and results to date are very pleasing with medium to larger sized fruit ranging 21.5 to 25.2%. Some of the smaller fruit as at 21st January tested at 18.8 to 19.8%. One of our grower partners picked a few bins late this week so that we could give the packing line a run and test out all parametre’s, this fruit will head to market on the weekend and we can see what the early demand is like. We envisage commencing our harvest mid to late next week with prevailing weather conditions and further dry matter testing to be the governing factors.

In terms of Avocado retailing in the major supermarkets in Qld this week we saw relatively stable shelf prices as follows - Aldi’s Hass this week shelf tickets at $2.99 each; Coles Qld stores visited had Hass avos at $3.50ea, and Woolworths Qld with Hass at $3.20ea. Some of the store displays this week appeared light on stock availability.

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 SUNNYBANK HILLS

Cavendish Bananas priced at $2.79/kg. More green fruit this week.
Havana Bananas at $3.99/kg - more green.

ALDI FAIRFIELD

Cavendish Bananas priced at $2.79/kg. Needed restocking as no stock on display.
Havana Bananas at $3.99/kg - better colour this week.

ALDI GARDEN CITY

Cavendish Bananas priced at $2.79/kg. Some with minor marking and a tinge green.
Havana Bananas also at $3.99/kg.

BANANAS AT COLES

COLES SUNNYBANK HILLS

Cavendish on display $2.50/kg.
Red Tips $5.90/kg. Lady Fingers $6.90/kg. Organic at $6.50/kg.

COLES FAIRFIELD

Cavendish on back to school special - $2.50/kg. Kids packs at $4.00/kg. A couple of clusters that were moderately marked, one/two clusters heavily spotted.
Red Tips $5.90/kg. Lady Fingers $6.90/kg.

COLES GARDEN CITY

Cavendish on back to school special ticketed at $2.50/kg - display needed topping up. Kids packs at $2.50/kg.
Red Tips at $5.90/kg - clusters very dull and Lady Fingers at $6.90/kg.

BANANAS AT WOOLWORTHS

WOOLWORTHS SUNNYBANK HILLS

Cavendish priced at $2.50/kg. Appropriately positioned in ‘Eat Now’ and ‘Eat Later’. Kids packs at $3.50ea.
Red Tips at $5.90/kg. Lady Fingers at $8.00/kg. Organic at $6.50/kg.

WOOLWORTHS FAIRFIELD

The display of Cavendish priced at $2.50/kg. Appropriately displayed. Kids packs at $3.00ea.
Red Tips at $5.90/kg, Lady Fingers at $8.00/kg and Organic at $5.50/kg.

WOOLWORTHS GARDEN CITY

The display of Cavendish priced at $2.50/kg. Appropriately displayed. Kids packs at $3.50ea.
Red Tips at $5.90/kg, Lady Fingers at $6.90/kg.

**banana display of the week: a tremendous effort, this wrap around display was a work of art, lets hope they sell!**

AVOCADOS AT ALDI

ALDI SUNNYBANK HILLS

NZ Hass Avocados, priced at $2.99 each.

Prepacks also on display - 1kg packs at $8.99ea and 5 piece packs at $8.99ea.

ALDI FAIRFIELD

NZ Hass Avocados, priced at $2.99 each. Packed 14th January so fruit is 16 days old.

Prepacks also on display - 1kg packs at $8.99ea and 5 piece packs at $9.99ea.

ALDI GARDEN CITY

NZ Count 25 Hass Avocados, priced at $2.99 each.
1kg prepacks at $8.99ea. 5 piece packs at $9.99ea.

AVOCADOS AT COLES

COLES SUNNYBANK HILLS

WA grown packed 9th January so 13 days old in Ct 23/25 Hass Avocados - ticketed at $3.50 ea.
1kg prepacks at $9.90ea and 5 piece prepacks at $10.90ea. Organic avocados at $3.80ea.