Bakery-café owners have voiced frustration with a limited supply of avocados and unusually high prices, but the avo authority says it’s an unavoidable part of the fresh produce industry. 

Some consumers have suggested growers in Western Australia ramped up the pre-Christmas market supply to boost sales at lower prices, causing a shortage and a price hike in the new year. However, Avocados Australia has hit back at claims the shortage is a result of growers manipulating pricing saying, “there’s a limit to how much growers can vary their harvest schedule”.

“There are too many steps in our supply chain to ramp up supply – the growers would need to contract extra pickers, and the knock-on effect is the packers would need to schedule extra staff and more trucks for transport, and this simply can’t happen at a moment’s notice,” Avocados Australia chief executive officer John Tyas said.

“The post-Christmas shortage was simply due to harvest delays caused by wet weather and fires causing transport delays. A break in harvesting and rain in New Zealand also hampered supply.”