AUSTIN, Texas — Avocado prices are some of the highest we've seen in years. Tuan Nguyen, owner of Poke Bowl in Downtown Austin, said he goes through dozens of avocadoes a day.
"We do use a lot of avocadoes," said Nguyen. "We order avocado. It comes in, about three-times weekly."
He has two other Poke Bowl locations in Central Texas. Ngyuen said all three businesses combined go through almost 500 avocadoes a week.
Nguyen said not too long ago, he would pay $32 for a box of avocadoes. The price recently went up to $56, and now it's even more.
"Yesterday [Thursday], new avocadoes came in," added Nguyen. "I checked the invoice and $62. We are paying about $1.75 apiece right now. It goes up almost on a weekly basis."
The most recent price hike came after the U.S. government put a pause on the import of Mexican avocados. This suspension happened after a U.S. official received a threat while in Mexico.
Food marketing professor at Cornell University Miguel Gomez said this time of the year, 80% of avocadoes consumed in the U.S. are from Mexico.
So, when the ban happened, there were a lot of immediate changes.
"In some of the wholesale markets, the price of a box of avocado went up because of expectations ... there was going to be scarcity," said Gomez.
But now that the ban is lifted, Gomez predicts prices will begin to fall.
"Supply is going to stabilize in very few days," added Gomez. "In less than a week, I anticipate."
However, they'll stabilize at the already climbing prices.
"Most of our prices, including avocado, very much like stock market, goes up and down," added Nguyen.
Nguyen has already had to raise the price of avocado for his customers. He hopes he doesn't have to do it again.
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