Like avocados? Better stop what you are doing and go grab some at the grocery store before they are gone! Strike that. First, finish reading this and then click all the ads, then go get some avocados.
The San Diego County Farm Bureau on Friday said that there is a massive shortage of avocados in the United States. This, as NBC 7 reports, is because of labor strikes in Mexico:
Growers and pickers in Mexico are having what officials called a “slow down,” or strikes, to affect the price of avocados in the U.S. Workers reported being unhappy with the prices they have been receiving for the fruits. Due to this, shipments coming into the U.S. have decreased, leading to a massive shortage that has been affecting restaurants and stores in the county and the everyday buyer.
Officials told NBC 7 about 40 million pounds of avocados are usually transported from Mexico to the U.S a week. However, two weeks ago, less than half of that amount, about 13 million pounds of the fruit were shipped over across our border.
The tv station talked with restaurants in San Diego that were paying $100 for a box of avocados which normally go for $66. An LA restaurant told CNBC they paid $120 for a box which they got for $40 last year.
This of course is leading most places to raise the price of their guac and some Mexican restaurants have even done the unthinkable and taken guacamole off the menu!!
For now, Chipotle – who you already know charges extra for their guacamole, is not raising their prices.
“We do not plan to raise prices for guacamole (we don’t typically raise prices in response to short-term cyclical changes in food costs) and have not incurred any supply disruptions,” a spokesperson from Chipotle told Business Insider.
