As November hit, supplies of imported guava tightened up considerably.
“We’ve been doing this since 2009 and winter usually makes things more complicated as far as supply goes,” says Yasmani J. Garcia of Sweet Seasons LLC in Hidalgo, Tex. “Demand for it goes up because the consumption goes up a lot and not only here but in the country of origin, which is Mexico.”
Garcia says given the supply issue, Sweet Seasons isn’t publishing its guava availability right now and instead focusing on filling orders for supermarkets with contracts and other year-round customers. “I don’t think though this year is any tighter or looser than years past,” he says. “As soon as we hit November, it just gets tight right through to January.”
Other factors affected
In fact, it even affects the color consumers prefer to see it in. “The big challenge right now is during the year, everybody, especially wholesalers, like to see the product green. And now since the demand is so high, we don’t keep them long enough to turn green,” he says. “People want it ready and yellow and that’s harder to do. During this part of the year, everybody wants it yellow and we only have it green.”
Not only are imports limited, but Garcia adds that as a product, awareness has built around the guava increasing demand on it. “In the beginning, we had to explain to people what it was, how you eat it, why is it green and why is it yellow,” he says. “We’re past that now. The market knows better and people are looking for guava more and more.”
Domestically he adds that only Florida has guava and it grows another variety, the Thai guava.
Price increase
In terms of price, it has picked up over last year’s prices, Garcia says. “Right now here in McAllen, Tex. which is right on the border, it’s $1/lb. which is a bit higher than last year,” he says.
And he doesn’t anticipate a price shift anytime soon. “With supplies getting tighter in the next couple of weeks, I don’t see it going down until January,” he says. “It will either hold or be even a bit higher.”
