Harvest of guava out of the Calvillo (Aguascalientes) region in Mexico is just beginning and in all, the supply of the fruit is low right now. "It is increasing but not as much as they did last year at this time," says Alberto Diaz of Spring Valley Fruits, adding a lack of spring rains contributed to the issue. "This year it began raining in June and July. There was a good amount of rain but it started too late to produce enough fruit for the high demand season for guava which is in December."
In the early summer particularly, when there was a lack of rain and the heat index was high, the trees were stressed which affected the quality of fruit at that time as well. Now that the rain has come and temperatures are cooling, the quality for the rest of the year is expected to be good.
While demand for guava right now is softer given it is competing with fall fruit, what all of this does mean is there will be a tighter supply of guava for Christmas–a key guava-consuming time when the Mexican population uses the fruit to make a holiday or Christmas punch.
Doubling handling capacity
With that busy Christmas season in mind, Spring Valley did work ahead to get its new packing house up and running in Aguascalientes. It contains new sorting machinery, a new refrigeration area, and 18 TOMRA lanes on top of the existing eight lanes the company already has–in all, doubling its handling capacity.
So where does this leave pricing? "Pricing is going to soften a bit this month and in October because of the start of the new region and demand picking up but more supply. However they won't be lower for too long and we think they'll pick up in November," Diaz says.
It's also anticipated that, following the rains and pruning that took place in June and July on guava trees, it's likely there will be increased supply starting in January.
For more information:
Alberto Diaz
Spring Valley Fruits
Tel: +1 (956) 618-2239
[email protected]
www.premiumguava.com