Mild winter boosts avocados, greens

Reporter·NZ Herald·

26 Sep, 2014 05:00 PM3 mins to read

A mild winter has brought cheap avocados to supermarkets.

Avocados are selling for as little as 50c each at New Zealand supermarkets and there is so much lettuce that some growers are choosing not to harvest it as shoppers prefer their greens packed in plastic bags.

A mild winter with periods of rain and fine spells meant favourable growing conditions for some local produce, bringing cut-price avocados and lettuce to consumers this week.

Avocados were selling for 50c at Countdown supermarkets and were available for bulk deals that made them $1 each at Pak 'n Save and New World stores.

Heads of iceberg lettuce were also going cheap, selling for between $1.29 and $2.

A Horticulture New Zealand spokeswoman said a "kind winter" had provided ideal growing conditions for some fruit and vegetables, which had yielded larger crops.

Avocado New Zealand's Bevan Jelley said it was common for prices to drop at this time of year when the bulk of fruit began to be harvested. However, there was nearly twice as much on offer compared to last year.

"Volume for this season is quite a bit larger than what there was last season," he said.

"For the New Zealand market, from May, we have harvested 589,000 trays. At this time last year we had harvested 356,000 trays."

Mr Jelley said it was not just New Zealand's supply of the fruit that had swelled. Avocados for export and processing had risen to a forecast 7 million tray count for the season, that peters off in the late summer months, compared to 4.9 million last year.

Pukekohe Vegetable Growers Association president Bharat Jivan said there was an abundance of lettuce in the market, which meant prices were likely to be lower for consumers. "Guys are not even harvesting them because they are so cheap," he said.

R C Hari and Sons grower Kiran Hari said there was an oversupply of lettuce heads because consumers were buying more pre-packaged bags of greens.

"There is an abundance of good quality lettuce out there," he said.

"There is also more people buying bagged lettuce, so we are in a boat where we won't harvest if we won't get a return on it."

A Countdown spokeswoman said its avocado price was popular with customers and agreed that the popularity of bagged loose lettuce was on the rise.

"The key drivers of this are convenience and shelf life," the spokeswoman said.