Asparagus in Charts: Mexico sees eight weeks of high prices

Asparagus is a curious vegetable. Generally regarded to have been a part of the human diet for the last 2000 years, it seems to surface through archaeological artifacts among the Egyptian culture. Having been known to have been a part of the Roman diet and feasted upon the European nobility, it makes its way to the Americas in the mid-1800s.

Today asparagus is one of the fastest-growing categories we track, expanding 29% in the last four years from 192M Kilos to 250M Kg per year, mostly on the backs of Mexico and Peru.

The last two months, however, have seen Mexican asparagus stand out, offering a strong premium over Peru.

Non-Organic Asparagus Prices per Kilo by Origin

Source: USDA Market News via Agronometrics. (Agronometrics users can
view this chart with live updates here)

These volumes come in the low season, on the shoulders of the main part of Mexico's season. That corresponds to the production season of Guanajuato.

Historic Mexico Non-Organic Asparagus Volumes

Source: USDA Market News via Agronometrics. (Agronometrics users can
view this chart with live updates here)

Mexico is the US' largest supplier and the main driver of a rise in volumes in the market. It held 59% of the market in 2018.

Not to say that Peru isn’t playing an important role. The Andean country accounted for 34% of the market in 2018, leaving only 7% of the market to other origins.

Non-Organic Asparagus Volumes

Source: USDA Market News via Agronometrics. (Agronometrics users can
view this chart with live updates here)

Asparagus prices are some of the most volatile that we track. Below are the monthly averages reported by the USDA.

There is some semblance of a pattern here, but there are frequent price spike or dips. This keeps market observers and us analysts on our toes. The need for the industry to keep an eye on the volatility of these prices is also one of the reasons that asparagus is currently the only vegetable we track.

Historic Mexico Non-Organic Asparagus Prices per Kilo

Source: USDA Market News via Agronometrics. (Agronometrics users can
view this chart with live updates here)

Written by: Colin Fain
Original published in FreshFruitPortal.com on September 03, 2019 (Link)

Comments

Avocados In Charts - Prices are falling and why are they likely to settle below 2018

Agronometrics has often spoken about what is to come and how the market could be affected. We hold a strong belief in being able to look at objective data can help navigate complicated scenarios. The recent spike in prices that avocados have seen is an example of one of these scenarios, catching many by surprise at a time of the year where we had never seen movements like this before. This can be seen in the chart below where the 2019 line has towered above all other prices since Sept. 2017 and every price recorded for June in the last five years.

Historic Hass Avocado Prices

Source: USDA Market News via Agronometrics. (Agronometrics users can
view this chart with live updates here)
Comparing the volumes of this year to the last can offer some insight as to how these prices have come about. Considering the prices were almost flat last year, the volume data serves as a great benchmark to understand where customers expectations lie.

In this year’s data, an important oversupply can be …

Apples in Charts: Honeycrisp, the queen of the U.S. market

Apples are a high-volume fruit commodity which growers need to produce very efficiently in order to be profitable, and the U.S. is no exception to this rule.

Apples from numerous origins are sold in the U.S. market, which is supplied principally by fruit from Washington State, as can be seen in the chart below.

Average historic arrival volumes of apples in the U.S. market, by origin

Source: USDA Market News via Agronometrics. (Agronometrics users can
view this chart with live updates here)
Average historic apple prices in the U.S. market have oscillated between around US$1.00 and US$1.75 per kilo over the last decade.

Historic weekly prices (USD/KG) of apples in the U.S. market

(Source: USDA Market News via Agronometrics. (Agronometrics users can
view this chart with live updates here)
But in the panorama of apples in the U.S., there is one variety that has stood out from the others – Honeycrisp. This queen of the U.S. apple market has great growth potential and excellent prospects…

The table grape industry is in uncharted territory right now

Overview of the potential impact of COVID-19 on future grape supply and price, by Ira Greenstein of Direct Source Marketing, complemented by charts from Agronometrics.

Original published in FreshPlaza.com on March 24, 2020

While the Chilean and Peruvian grape seasons are winding down and their weekly volumes are decreasing, the table grape industry has seen an uptick in demand in the past weeks. This is partially a result of the high retail movements due to the coronavirus panic-shopping of the past few weeks. Ira Greenstein of Direct Source Marketing says: “A month ago, importers had a real concern that the industry wouldn’t be able to move through the condensed volumes and huge inventories would be sitting in cold storages. That sentiment has completely reversed with substantially increased retail demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic.”

With the lower volumes but increasing demand, the cold stores are rapidly being depleted and spot market pricing is expected to continue to increase, …

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