THE INSIDER: Avocado ring Hass been bust
The company’s president, Steve Barnard, said partial pallets and boxes of avocados were purloined and sold from the back door of the distribution centre
Three men have been arrested in California on suspicion of grand theft avocado following the disappearance of $300,000 worth of the produce. The Telegraph reports that avocado prices have surged in the US in recent months owing to a diminished crop in California and Mexico and increased demand for avocados worldwide. US per capita consumption was only half a kilogram in 1989, but rose to more than 3kg by 2014, according to the Agricultural Marketing Resource Centre. The Hass Avocado Board reported that the average retail price for an avocado was US89c in January. By March 19 — the most recent week of data reported — it had risen to $1.25 and avocados at Whole Foods in New York now sell for $2.50 (R35) each. Police believe the men, who worked at Mission Produce in Oxnard, outside Los Angeles, had been stealing avocados for several months. The company’s president, Steve Barnard, said partial pallets and boxes of avocados were purloined and sold from the back door of the distribution c...
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