The world's love for guacamole and all things avocado is causing a record-breaking surge in prices of the beloved fruit.
According to new Bloomberg data released just in time for Cinco de Mayo this week, surging global demand and reduced harvests from the world's major avocado producers — Mexico, Peru and California — prices have more than doubled since last year.
In fact, according to Mexico’s government, a 22-pound box of Hass avocados from Mexico’s biggest producer cost 530 pesos (or $27.89) Thursday.
In the U.S., which gets 82 percent of its avocados from Mexico, the per-capita consumption jumped from 3.5 pounds in 2006 to 6.9 pounds in 2015.
And the average price of an avocado in the nation has also surged from $0.98 each in April 2016 to $1.26 in April 2017.
According to BBC, California production is estimated to be down about 44 percent this year, partly due to a heatwave. Severe flooding hitting the southern regions of Peru has also downgraded this year's crop forecast.
"You have increased consumption in China and other areas of the world, like Europe," Roland Fumasi, an analyst at Rabobank in Fresno, California, told Bloomberg. "They're pulling a lot more of the Mexican crop, so there's less available for the U.S."
Big U.S. restaurant chains like Subway and Chipotle have been affected by the high demand and price increase, with Subway no longer offering fresh avocado on their sandwiches and Chipotle saying "it squeezed its bottom line" trying to provide its tasty, trendy guacamole, BBC reported.
Avocado prices will likely "remain at relatively elevated levels” through summer, Fumasi said.
Read more about the avocado food trend and its skyrocketing prices at Bloomberg.com.
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