Del Rey Avocado Fortifies Its Market Presence in Peru
FALLBROOK, CA - As Moroccan scholar Ibn Battuta once wrote, “Traveling—it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller.” In our industry, these storytellers often take the shape of produce’s biggest import/export experts who have traveled to distant shores to expand categories and consumer palates. At Del Rey Avocado, President Bob Lucy holds the company’s pen and is serving as its orator, having recently returned from a trip to Peru as part of the grower’s latest efforts to expand its avocado program.
Upon his return, I asked Bob to don the cap of storyteller in order to glean more information from him on what this growth opportunity means for Del Rey Avocados and the category as a whole.
“The U.S. market is important to Peruvian avocado production because of the strong consumption growth of avocados overall in the U.S. market,” Bob explained when I asked him what led to Del Rey Avocado’s jump into the Peruvian market all those years ago. “We are excited to be growing avocados in Peru and importing high-quality Peruvian Hass avocados to the U.S. during late spring and the summer months. This coincides perfectly with high demand periods here in the U.S. and provides our customers excellent opportunities to promote what we believe is the perfect fruit.”
Bob just returned from his trip on January 31, a trip in which he took a gander through Del Rey’s production of Peruvian avocados. He noted that the biggest takeaway from his travels was that the company’s organic and conventional partners will have an ample supply of top-quality fruit. This will then put North American retailers in a good position to promote avocados—a story we can listen to over and over again here at ANUK.
"Because of the seasonal reduction of volume coming out of Mexico—California and Peruvian production should provide very adequate supplies to the marketplace coast to coast,” Bob continued.
Del Rey Avocado’s move into the Peruvian market is another way the grower is staying on top of the ever-increasing demand for avocados. With the fruit available from June to September—a time period that Bob notes is when avocado clamor is at an all-time high—Del Rey Avocado is positioning itself to be a crucial retail partner during the peak months.
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