Hey, do you remember that time when a single avocado was the same price as a three-bedroom house? No? Because buying avocados and soy lattes doesn’t actually create systematic wealth inequality in Australia? You don’t say.
However, there was a time when avocados were pretty expensive. They were legit priced at times around $3.00 a pop. Those days are now over though. Lettuce is now the expensive prince, and avos are now members of the working class. But why is the avocado no longer a luxury-priced fruit? Don’t freak out on me, because we’re about to answer this question.
Avocados Have Been a Growing Business
In The ‘Avolanche’ of Australian Avocados, Rabobank’s report on the avocado industry, they asserted that avocado farmers in Western Australia have had some killer seasons. “A bumper 2021/22 crop in Western Australia was a turning point,” said the document’s author Pia Piggott, “with industry estimates of avocado production in the state being up a staggering 265 per cent on the previous year.” This has contributed to the price of avocados getting as low as $1.00.
Moreover, it’s not just WA doing well. “All other Australian avocado-growing regions – except North Queensland, which had seen a record harvest the previous year – have also seen slight year-on-year increases in production in 2022,” stated Piggott.
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What the Avocado Boom Means for Farmers and Fans
Avocado grower and Avocados Australia’s chairman, Jim Kochi, told the ABC that exporting more of this fruit would be a good move for his industry. He said, “We have markets in South-East Asia and, hopefully, India that will take avocados.” Kochi also asserted, “It’s complementary to what we do here in Australia because some of the sizes, particularly the smaller sizes and the really big sizes, aren’t all that favoured on the Australian market but are favoured by the export markets.”
On the consumer’s side of things, Piggott outlined that avos are currently a cheaply priced prize for the taking. She explained, “Avocados have a strong health halo and are price competitive amid the broader cost of living pressures and this has supported Australian domestic demand.”
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