Consumers of avocados in the United States bought smaller sizes in 2024

(Agraria.pe) In its latest annual report, the Hass Avocado Board (HAB) reported that last year, U.S. supermarkets primarily sold smaller-sized Hass avocados. To the industry's surprise, consumers not only did not oppose the change but seemed to prefer it. Due to climatic anomalies, the main global suppliers of Hass avocados—including Mexico, Colombia, California, and Peru—produced smaller-than-usual fruits. Retailers recorded a 30% decrease in the volume of the sector's most common sizes (40s and 48s), along with a 9.5% increase in the smaller sizes (60s, 70s, 84s, and 96s). However, this reduction in size did not discourage buyers of Hass avocados. Driven by an increase in the average price of the smaller avocados—from US$1.04 in 2023 to US$1.16 in 2024—the annual per capita consumption of Hass avocados in dollars grew by 12%, reaching US$22.63. Instead of abandoning this variety for other types of avocados, and despite the smaller Hass being more expensive, Americans maintained ...