In Australia, as in many other countries, food prices are rising. But this year is a surplus year for avocado production and Australian growers are being forced to throw away avocados to avoid a further drop in prices. In the state of Queensland, near the town of Atherton, a resident alerted the local media by revealing to have attended a discharge of lawyers.
Tons of lawyers. Jim Kochi, an Atherton-based producer who sits on the board of Avocados Australia, pointed out that these lawyers were not his, but admitted having had to throw away a large number of lawyers last year.
According to the producer, demand fell with the health crisis which led to the closure of restaurants and then the floods which hit the states of Queensland and New South Wales this year added further disruption to the market. In addition, this year there is an overabundance of fruit because the young orchards, planted in recent years, are coming into production.
In Australia, the main supermarkets in the country sell avocados between 1.60 AUD (1.12 USD) and 1.80 AUD (1.26 USD), lower prices for consumers would seem to be the solution to increase demand. But this solution is not possible for the producers according to Jim Kochi who explains that it is not profitable and not worth it. Investing money in labor to pack, the cost of packaging and the cost of transport to send lawyers to Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, does not pay off. “The option is just to throw them away.”
As Australia suffers its biggest year-on-year increase in food prices since 2011, according to Rabobank agriculture industry analyst Michael Harvey, avocados have been one of the to come under downward pressure.
