With consistently good growing conditions, strong yields, and steady demand, green papaya has proven reliable for U.S. importers over the last few years. For importer Lili Ochoa, 2015 has given her company another strong, stable fall season.
“It’s pretty much been consistent,” Ochoa says of this November’s market, with 40 lb. containers of her product selling at $18.00 per unit. Ochoa notes that pricing is slightly higher than typical this year, but says that the difference is minimal, attributing the uptick to her industry’s tendency toward fluid pricing more than anything else.
Ochoa, who is importing her product from Belize into Miami, FL, sells to retailers in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia. Ochoa specializes in individually-wrapped, long green varietal papayas. “It has to be long,” Ochoa says. “Nobody wants the round, unless there’s a shortage.”
Ochoa adds that shortages of Belizean long green papayas have been rare in the past five years, as the country’s crops have been consistently strong over that timeframe.
