The price of avocados is dropping on supermarket shelves thanks to early harvesting.
These low prices are expected to stick around throughout the year, but the lower they go, the more it could cost growers.
"This time of year we'd probably expect 30,000 or 40,000 trays a week, and a couple of weeks ago we got 102,000 trays," says NZ Avocado CEO Jen Scoular.
For consumers, that means there's more supply and that drives prices down.
"We know we've got a tough season ahead, we know there'll be more fruit available in the New Zealand market, and I think we can probably assume that there will be good value for New Zealand consumers all year," Scoular says.
To test that value, Newshub shopped at three different supermarkets in Wellington to find out just how cheap avocados are.
At one New World in Central Wellington, an avocado cost $1.95, and at Countdown in Petone, one cost $1.75. The cheapest Newshub found was at Pak'nSave in Petone, where one avocado cost just $0.99 - just a couple of days ago, they were as low as 49 cents.
While that might be to the taste of consumers, it puts pressure on our 1600 growers who could be facing lower returns.
"For avocados to be selling for less than a dollar, it's not a good situation for our growers," Scoular says.
That situation has looked very different in recent years, with avocados going for $6.99.
But while they're cheap, consumers are being encouraged to dig in.
