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Q: Guava Production in the U.S. ( Answered 5 out of 5 stars,   0 Comments )
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Subject: Guava Production in the U.S.
Category: Business and Money > Economics
Asked by: phytosan-ga
List Price: $50.00
Posted: 29 Jul 2003 14:39 PDT
Expires: 28 Aug 2003 14:39 PDT
Question ID: 236670
We are interested in Guava Production in the U.S. We know there is
some commercial production in Florida and Hawaii and some research
type activity in Georgia and in Texas. What are the specific volumes
produced per year and region? Where is the fruit sold and at what
prices. What varieties are cultivated?

Thanks for your help

Arved Deecke

Request for Question Clarification by livioflores-ga on 30 Jul 2003 07:24 PDT
Hi phytosan!!

After research I just found summaries of acreage, yield, production,
use, price and value for guava in Hawaii and Dade County(FL), The
production in Georgia, Texas and California appears to be not relevant
and the data is showed grouped with other fruits under the item Non
Citrus Fruit or Tropical Fruits.

I also found some articles and documents related for example this one
entitled:
"Market Development Strategies for the Florida Tropical Fruit
Industry" from the University of Florida; you can see the topic
reading the ABSTRACT:
"Telephone surveys of tropical fruit growers and shippers in south
Florida and of major food retailers and specialty produce wholesalers
nationwide were conducted to determine availability, sales trends, and
market development strategies for 11 tropical fruits selected by
Florida Tropical Fruit Growers of South Florida, Inc., on the basis of
their commercial potential. The fruits targeted were mangos,
carambola, lychee, papaya, mamey sapote, specialty bananas, longan,
guava, passion fruit, atemoya, and sugar apples. The grower-shipper
survey revealed no major changes in the production of most fruits in
the wake of Hurricane Andrew although modest increases were
anticipated for lychees, longans, and papayas. Mangos, papayas, and
carambolas were found to be
widely available at wholesale and retail levels, and sales trends were
generally positive. However, the remaining fruits had varying degrees
of availability at wholesale and retail levels. Some fruits, such as
mamey sapote, atemoya, and sugar apples had very limited distribution,
particularly west of the Mississippi River because of phytosanitary
restrictions. Retail and wholesale produce buyers generally agreed
that the greatest impediments to increased sales of tropical fruit
from Florida were (1) lack of consumer familiarity and awareness, (2)
high prices relative to other types of fruit, and (3) supply problems,
such as limited or inconsistent supplies and short production seasons.
This paper analyzes marketing suggestions made by the trade and makes
specific recommendations for improved marketing programs for south
Florida’s tropical fruit growers and shippers."

Another one is "Guava Production in Georgia under Cold-protection
Structure" by Umedi L. Yadava.

I need confirmation about if this is the kind of information that are
you looking for, and also if this info is enough (specially if the
available statistical data are fit to your needs). After you confirm
that I will know if I can post the answer, I need to continue
researching or I must leave this question to another researcher.

I will wait for your response.
Regards.
livioflores-ga

Clarification of Question by phytosan-ga on 30 Jul 2003 08:25 PDT
Thanks Livioflores!

You are definitely on the right track to answer the questions we have.
I have since spoken to the USDA statistical service in Hawaii and they
have clarified that almost the entire production of 15.9 Million
pounds is processed as paste, juice or jam for phytosanitary reasons.
Florida has similar restrictions, but I would be very interested on
how much guava is produced in Florida, and how much is sold as fresh
fruit in the state and at what prices.

regards

Arved

Request for Question Clarification by livioflores-ga on 30 Jul 2003 09:27 PDT
Hi phytosan!!

I will do some more research on this and I will post the answer
tonight, if you find this acceptable.

Best Regards.
livioflores-ga

Clarification of Question by phytosan-ga on 30 Jul 2003 10:09 PDT
Sounds good

Arved
Answer  
Subject: Re: Guava Production in the U.S.
Answered By: livioflores-ga on 31 Jul 2003 08:40 PDT
Rated:5 out of 5 stars
 
Hi phytosan!!

First of all excuse me for the delay, but I expend time searching for
Florida´s guava production data, this info is not well developed in
the better cases or is unavailable. This is because the guava
production in Florida is very small related to other crops and also
related to other tropical fruits production.

Note: please consider this answer unfinished until you feel completely
satisfied with it. You can request all the clarifications needed.

Now yes!! Let´s work!!

I will start with the information about Hawaii.

The "Noncitrus Fruits and Nuts 2002 Summary" was published by the
United States
Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service on
07.08.2003; from this document the following data was extracted:

Guavas
Acreage Harvested, Yield, Utilized Production, and Utilization,
2000-2002:

YEAR    Acreage Harvested    Yield Per Acre   Utilized Production  
------------------------------------------------------------------
            Acres             1,000 pounds      1,000 pounds
------------------------------------------------------------------
2000         680                 23.4              15,900
2001         610                 25.1              15,300
2002         550                 17.6               9,700  

In all the cases the production was utilized as processed, not for
fresh fruit.

Related to the prices and values for the period 2000-2002 we have:

YEAR      Price (processed)      Value of Production (processed)
------------------------------------------------------------------
          Dollars per Pound            1,000 Dollars
------------------------------------------------------------------
2000         0.129                        2,051  
2001         0.141                        2,157
2002         0.150                        1,455

You can see this info following the link:
http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/reports/nassr/fruit/pnf-bb/ncit0703.pdf


More valuable info can be found at the "Hawaii Guavas" page (Released:
July 17, 2003) of the Hawaii Agricultural Statistics Service website:
"GUAVA SALES DOWN FOR SECOND YEAR
GUAVA PRODUCTION UTILIZED FOR PROCESSING TOTALED 9.7 MILLION POUNDS IN
2002, down for the second consective year and 37 percent lower than
the previous year, according to the Hawaii Agricultural Statistics
Service (HASS). Output was lower with limited sales and reduced
yields. Hawaii island growers also reported guava prices were still
low and abandoning their acreage or growing other crops. Statewide
farm value totaled $1.5 million for 2002, down 33 percent from 2001.
TOTAL ACREAGE WAS DOWN 70 ACRES TO 640, continuing the decline that
began 12 years ago. Harvested acreage totaled 550 acres, 60 acres less
than 2001. Hawaii island accounted for most of the abandoned acreage.
The majority of the acreage is on Kauai.
U.S. IMPORTS OF SELECTED GUAVA PRODUCTS IN 2002 were mixed compared to
2001 (see page 4). Guava prepared or preserved imports decreased 19
percent from the previous year to 8.3 million pounds (3.8 thousand
metric tons).
The Dominican Republic and Mexico supplied about 49 percent of the
imports into the U.S.
Paste and puree were up 11 percent to 9.3 million pounds (4.2 thousand
metric tons). Brazil, Mexico, and Dominican Republic were the top
three exporters respectively, accounting for just over 71 percent of
the imports.
Guava jam imports were up 51 percent to 1.7 million pounds (766 metric
tons). Costa Rica and Brazil accounted for 62 percent of the total."
Visit the page to see the tables showing statistics for production,
prices and import of guava.
http://www.nass.usda.gov/hi/fruit/guava.htm




Related to the Guava production in Florida I must tell you that there
are not a definitive fact-sheet. This is because the amount of guava
produced in Florida is considered irrelevant or more properly a minor
fruit crop, for example read this:
"Hawaii has ALL the US banana, guava, papaya, and pineapple
production." from
COMMERCIAL HORTICULTURE PRODUCTION, by Michael D. Rethwisch, Vegetable
and Field Crops Farm Advisor, University of California Cooperative
Extension (fourth page):
http://www.njha.org/pdfs/studman/18.pdf

 
At  "Marketing Florida Agriculture", the official web site of the
Division of Marketing and Development, which is a division of the
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, I found the
following statement:
"Other Florida Tropical Fruit:
More than two dozen minor tropical fruits are grown in South Florida,
and mostly sold on the local fresh market. They include:
banana/plantain, carambola, mamey sapote, papaya, litchi, longan,
GUAVA, Barbados cherry, kumquats, sapodilla, pummelo, annona, passion
fruit, coconut, jaboticaba, jackfruit, key lime, Tahiti lime,
monstera, white sapote, black sapote and wax jambu."
"Florida Farm Commodities, Tropical Fruit":
http://www.florida-agriculture.com/agfacts/tropical.htm#Other


So we have, for Florida, a small production of guava that are
concentred mostly in South Florida, specially in Dade County, and for
this county we can obtain some statistical info related:
"Guava:
Guava is grown primarily for the fresh market in Miami-Dade County. It
is native to tropical America and is reported to have been introduced
to Florida from Cuba in 1847. Guava fruit ripens practically all year
round, but the bulk of Florida production occurs during the summer
months. Interest in guava production increased in the late 1980s and
early 1990s, with acreage expanding from 35 to nearly 200 acres by
1996. The 2001 GIS analysis indicated guava acreage had increased to
291 acres. Based upon acreage trends, the outlook for guava production
is positive. However, as immature acreage reaches full production,
grower prices could soften unless adequate market development
activities are initiated."
From "MIAMI-DADE COUNTY AGRICULTURAL LAND RETENTION STUDY SUMMARY AND
RECOMMENDATIONS" at Florida Agricultural Market Research Center
website:
http://www.agmarketing.ifas.ufl.edu/dlfiles%5CSummary.pdf


Also I found the following at "Miami-Dade County Agricultural Land
Retention Study: Final Report - Appendix A - Section 2: Tropical Fruit
Production in Miami-Dade County" (see the tables at pages numbered as
23, 24 and 25 - starting at the eighth of the document):
http://www.agmarketing.ifas.ufl.edu/dlfiles/AppA_TropFrts.pdf

Guava:
Trees per acre:  145 - 217 
Yld range/tree:  120 - 220
Yld range/acre:  20,000 - 30,000 

Keys:
-Trees per acre: This is the range in the number of trees per acre
commonly found under commercial production.
-Yld range/tree: yield range per tree per year. The values are ranges
of crop yields in pounds per tree per year. Crop yield varies among
species, tree age, size, production practices, and cultivar. Crop
yields are affected by previous and current weather conditions and
production practices.
-Yld range/acre: yield range per acre per year. The values are ranges
of crop yields in pounds per acre per year. Crop yield varies among
species, tree age, size, production practices, and cultivar. Crop
yields are affected by previous and current weather conditions and
production practices.

Now we can estimate the Miami-Dade County Guava Production by
multiplying Total Acres (last figure for 2001 is 291 acres) by Yld
range/acre; we obtain an estimated range value of 5,820 to 8,730
thousands of pounds; the only figure available is for the 1994 season
and from an Acreage of 197 acres there was produced 4,925 thousands of
pounds, using this yield we obtain an estimated production of 7,275
thousands of pounds for the year 2001. This production is mostly used
as fresh fruit. The fresh guava is mostly Self Packed and shipped by
the producer (about the 96% of the production) to be sold as fresh
fruit at specialized stores in all the country. The price per pound to
the public is about $7 (for example at Melissa's you can buy a basket
containing 3 pounds of guavas for $21.50).

There is a research that helps to understand and improve the commerce
with the tropical fruits, one paragraph of this work states:
"Nearly 60 percent of the wholesalers handling guavas felt that the
fruit was poorly known by consumers, and that increased promotion was
the way to increase sales. High prices were also mentioned as a
detriment to increased sales by 13 percent of the respondents and
thirty-five percent felt that improved quality would help. Specific
quality problems mentioned were immature fruit, overripe or rotten
fruit and inconsistent sizes. Only one of the 23 specialty wholesalers
complained of supply problems."
These are the links to the documents from the University of Florida,
you will find them very useful:
"Market Development Strategies for the Florida Tropical Fruit
Industry":
http://agmarketing.ifas.ufl.edu/downloads/Tropical_fruits.pdf

"Appendices to: Market Development Strategies for the Florida Tropical
Fruit Industry":
http://agmarketing.ifas.ufl.edu/downloads/Tropical_fruits_app.pdf



For the season 1997/98 we have the following figures for guava
production in Miami-Dade County:
Area Acres: 199
Value sold outside County: $1,305,938 
Value sold within County:    $435,313 
Total Value:               $1,741,250

Again we can estimate the Total value sold per Acre, that is for
1997/98 season $8,750/acre.

I also found the following table:
Guava: Estimated Production Costs in Miami-Dade County, 2000-01.
-------------------------------------------------
Category                         Cost per Acre 
-------------------------------------------------  
                                (--Dollars---)
-------------------------------------------------
-Operating Costs- 
Fertilizer                         $688.29
Fungicide                           $37.24
Herbicide                          $246.00
Insecticide                         $43.50
Interest on Operating Capital      $252.59

Miscellaneous
Tree Removal and Site Prep           $8.00
Tree Replacement                    $10.00
Top, Hedge and Prune               $270.00
Set Trees                            $2.00
Irrigation                         $165.00
Mow Middles                        $160.00
Grove Work and Hand Labor           $25.00
Chemical Applications              $460.00

-Total Operating Cost-           $2,367.62

-Fixed Costs-
Land Rent                          $446.00
Supervision                        $256.10
Overhead                           $512.21

-Total Fixed Costs-              $1,214.31

-Total Pre-harvest Cost-         $3,581.93 
------------------------------------------------
From "ESTIMATED COST OF PRODUCTION FOR SELECTED AGRICULTURAL CROPS IN
MIAMI-DADE COUNTY 2000/01"
http://www.agmarketing.ifas.ufl.edu/dlfiles/AppB_ProdCosts_Tropfruit.pdf


The most important source was the following page:
"Miami-Dade County Agricultural Land Retention Study: Final Report" at
the Florida Agricultural Market Research Center website:
http://www.agmarketing.ifas.ufl.edu/nsagland.html


For Tropical Fruit distributors in Florida visit "Florida's Tropical
Fruit Distributors":
http://www.florida-agriculture.com/tropical/distrib.htm


Additional info can be found at the following pages and articles:
"Guava Commodity Sheet":
http://www.aginfo.fvsu.edu/publicat/commoditysheets/fvsu003.htm

"Agribusiness Online - Crop Guides - Guava":
http://www.agribusinessonline.com/crops/guava.asp

"Guava--Farmer's Bookshelf":
http://agrss.sherman.hawaii.edu/bookshelf/guava/guava.html

"Florida Food Fare - Guava" by Jean Meadows :
http://sarasota.extension.ufl.edu/FCS/FlaFoodFare/Guava.htm

"Tropical Fruit Crops Management in Florida":
http://extensionsmp.ifas.ufl.edu/fl111.htm

"University of Florida / Miami-Dade County Extension Programs:
Commercial Tropical Fruit Production":
http://miami-dade.ifas.ufl.edu/programs/tropfruit.htm

And because exotic and tropical fruit is used for Fruit Gifts I
include this article: "E-COMMERCE: MARKETING GIFT FRUIT ON THE
INTERNET" by DR. R. L. DEGNER AND K. L. MORGAN.
http://agmarketing.ifas.ufl.edu/downloads/Gift_Fruit_Marketing_Web-00-91.pdf


Search Strategy.
KEYWORDS:
guava production
guava statistics
guava florida production
guava florida crop

Search Engine:
www.google.com


I hope that this helps you. 
Please remember to consider this answer unfinished until you feel
completely satisfied with it; so if you find something unclear or have
troubles with the links, post a request for an answer clarification
before rate this answer. Also if find this answer acceptable please
let me know, your feedback is a valuable tool for improving our
service.
Thank you.

Best Regards.
livioflores-ga

Request for Answer Clarification by phytosan-ga on 31 Jul 2003 09:34 PDT
I am completely impressed by your work. I had never expected such
level of detail and will rate your work accordingly. Thank you very
much. the one missing piece of the puzzle is the market price (not
harvest price) of Guava in Miami Dade County. If you come up with that
answer I'll tip you $15.

Arved

Clarification of Answer by livioflores-ga on 01 Aug 2003 06:38 PDT
Hello:

Thank you for the good opinion about my work, giving a good service is
our goal and I am happy for did it one more time.

In regard to the market price in Miami-Dade County I am searching for
this info, actually I am waiting for the reply of some e-mails that I
sent. I hope to have good news tonight or tomorrow morning.

As I told you in the answer the only price that I found online until
now is at Melissa´s (a specialized store for exotic fruits and other
Organic, Specialty & Recipes), the product is temporarily unavailable
but the price is showed:
$21.50 for a pack containing 3 pounds. The commerce is located at Los
Angeles, CA, and the Melissa’s Guavas are grown in California.
http://www.melissas.com/catalog/index.cfm?Product_id=463&Info=NO

Melissa´s products can be found in Florida at the following stores:
   Albertsons
   Bowman's Gourmet 
   Boys Farmers Market 
   Bruno's 
   Food Lion 
   Gardners Market 
   Gooding Stores 
   Kash N' Karry 
   Love Foods Market 
   Natural Living Shops 
   Publix (Jacksonville) 
   Sugar Free Marketplace 
   Wal-Mart Supercenters 
   Ward's Supermarket 
   Wild Oats 
   Winn-Dixie Stores 

I am using this list for the guava´s market price research.

I will contact you soon (for good or bad news).

Thank you for trusting in us by asking to Google Answers.

Best Regards.
livioflores-ga

Clarification of Answer by livioflores-ga on 03 Aug 2003 10:06 PDT
Hi phytosan!!

Finally I received a reply from a Tropical Fruit distributor:
C Brands
23700 South Dixie Highway
Homestead, FL 33032
Ph 305/258-1444 / Fax 305/-258-0201
E-Mail; Schaeferbs@aol.com
Bill Schaefer

Mr Bill Schaefer told me the following:
"Anywhere from $1.00 to $2.25 per pound depending on quality, variety,
size,
and time of year.  Also quantity purchased and pack size will have a
bearing on the price."


---------------------------------------
Additional (and possibly useful) info:
---------------------------------------
The best source for wholesale prices is the USDA’s Agricultural
Marketing Service Miami Wholesale Fruit and Vegetable Report. This
report changes daily during the business week to reflect the demands
of the market place.  The prices are wholesale quotes, the price that
a wholesaler charges a retail venue or food service business.  The
prices stated on this report are not what the farmer is receiving for
producing the commodity, commonly referred to as “Farm Gate Prices.
Unfortunatly there are no updated guava records available, but I found
the lasts (from year 2001).
To see the last updated Miami Wholesale Fruit and Vegetable Report
visit each day the following page:
http://www.ams.usda.gov/fv/mncs/mhw.pdf

The guide for use this reports can be found at this page:
"Fruit and Vegetable Market News Users Guide" :
http://www.ams.usda.gov/fv/pdfpubs/mnuserguide.pdf

I found the wholesale prices at New York at 08/01/2003 (last Friday):
Guava 26.00 flts 12 10-oz bkts meshwrpd CA
This info means (I guess):
$26.00 per flat containing 12 10oz mesh-wraped baskets, origin CA.
This results in $2.88 per pound aprox.
The source for this last info is the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing
Service New York Wholesale Fruit and Vegetable Report:
http://www.ams.usda.gov/fvarchive/new%20york%20wholesale/new%20york%202003/20030801nxw.pdf


I found old records for Miami Guava wholesale prices:
Thursday, November 15, 2001:
Guava 28.00 flmwrpd cntrs FL ($28.00 per film-wraped container,
unfortunatly I am unable to find the container to pounds conversion
factor yet, but I am searching for it).
http://www.ams.usda.gov/fvarchive/miami%20wholesale/miami2001/1115mhw.pdf

Monday, October 15, 2001:
Guava 28.00 flts 12 1-pt bkts CA ($28.00 per flat containing 12 1-pint
baskets, again we need to know how many pounds are in a 1-pint basket
of guavas).
http://www.ams.usda.gov/fvarchive/miami%20wholesale/miami2001/1015mhw.pdf


I hope this helps you, I will continue researching and if I´ll find
something interesting for you I will post it as a clarification.

Best Regards.
livioflores-ga

Clarification of Answer by livioflores-ga on 05 Aug 2003 09:43 PDT
Hi phytosan!! 

Thank you for the good rating and for the generous tip. I really
appreciate that, and some beers will be drink in your name :>P)

I have more good news for you, I received another reply from the Price
Reports Section of the Market News Branch Fruit and Vegetable Programs
USDA, Agricultural Marketing Service, Mr Richard DeMenna and Mr James
Cunningham gave me the following info:
08/05/2003
"Guava grown in the Homestead, Florida area is in season from about
July to December.  The 10 lb cartons normally range from about $16-$25
FOB Homestead.  Yesterday I was told the price was $24.  We do not
have a retail price i.e. supermarket price report but the Miami
Terminal is about $32 for the 10 lb carton. There is also a Thai guava
grown and in season. It is generally packed in a 30 lb box and ranges
from $25-$55 currently at $35 FOB Homestead."

I hope that this info will be useful to you.

Best regards.
livioflores-ga
phytosan-ga rated this answer:5 out of 5 stars and gave an additional tip of: $15.00
The answer received exceeded all of my expectations. I thank you for your hard work.

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