Your avocado toast may get even more expensive
Avocado toast is served during an event held in New York City. (Photo by Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images for CBD For Life)
Avocado toast and guacamole enthusiasts might be paying more for avocados at their area grocery stores.
Mission Produce Inc., one of the world’s largest avocado producers, stated in an earnings call on March 11 that it expects avocado prices to increase in the current quarter.
Prices could rise by 10% to 15% this year compared to the second quarter of 2023, when Mission Produce’s avocados were priced at $1.30 per pound. Now the new price point may be $1.43 to $1.50 a pound, a company release stated.
FOX Television Stations reached out to Mission Produce for comment.
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In contrast to Mission Produce’s avocado prices, the average prices for a Hass avocado, a brand typically found in most grocery stores, was $1.04 in September 2023, according to a recent retail price report from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Mission Produce’s plans to raise its avocado prices comes amid surges in prices for the good over the past few years.
The combination of high avocado prices and inflation contributed to a rise in prices at Chipotle, where guacamole is a top item at its restaurants. The Mexican restaurant titan made "modest price increases to offset inflation," a company spokersperson told FOX Television Stations in October 2023.
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In 2022, avocado prices skyrocketed when inflation hit record highs. During February of that year, the U.S. briefly halted Mexican avocado imports from the state of Michoacan after threats against a U.S. official. The ban only lasted a week, but it still drove prices up.
Mexican avocados account for about 80% of all U.S. avocado imports, according to trade data from Tridge.
According to the USDA, the quantity of avocados available per person tripled to more than 8 pounds per person from 2000 to 2021.
The U.S. has produced an average of about 400 million pounds of avocados annually since 2000, but production has slowly declined since 2011 with a drop in U.S. avocado acres.
This story was reported from Washington, D.C.