Much Does that Guac Cost?! Avocado Prices On the Rise

Like we don’t have enough to deal with on Cinco de Mayo. This just in: that bowl of guac, anything with avocado will cost more this year as avocado prices hit record highs. Dios mio.

Related: What’s the Deal with Avocado Shortage?

Bloomberg reports that a 22-pound box of Haas avocados from MIchoacan (Mexico’s biggest producer) is up to almost $28, that’s more than double what it was earlier in 2017 and the highest in almost 20 years.

We have only ourselves to blame. The rise is due to an increase in consumption. About 10 years ago, Americans ate about three and a half pounds a year. In 2015, it was up to almost seven pounds. There’s also an increase in consumption across the world.

Mexico supplies 82 percent of avocados with a record 1.75 billion pounds shipped to the U.S. in 2015 (up from 24 million in 2000). But as demand increases in China and Europe and smaller crops bear less avocado…. Well, you get the picture.

And it’s not going to get better anytime soon. Avocado trees are “alternate-bearing crops”, so there are large harvests one year followed by small harvests the next. In California, production will be down almost fifty percent this year. FIFTY PERCENT YOU GUYS.

So prices will stay elevated at least through the summer. Until then just cross your fingers that the next harvest is plentiful. In the meantime, maybe we can stop treating avocados like they magically appear and take a moment to respect all that goes into growing and harvesting our food. (And be thankful for the country across the border that supplies so much of what we love to eat.)