The weather is warmer and the crowds will hopefully be bigger as venues start to plan their summer menus. Here’s some insight on fresh produce to help you figure out where you’ll be spending more, and where you’ll be spending less.
Venues may have noticed the price of limes increase as the weather heats up, with the culprit being Melbourne Cup. Love it or hate it, it’s a huge day for venues, and the demand for cocktails and mixed drinks means lots and lots of limes.
“Melbourne Cup makes the price of limes go up” says Joe Hamad from Sydney fresh produce supplier, Fruitique. “But the flipside is that there is an abundance of limes straight after the event and prices drop.”
Joe expects a hot summer, and says that if Tasmania gets hit with hotter than normal weather, cherries will be expensive. “In terms of vegetables, broccoli is a bit expensive at the moment, but that’s balanced by incredible asparagus prices - although it’s hard to know when this is going to change.”
Anthony Ponte from Melba Fresh in Victoria agrees with the sentiment about asparagus. “Asparagus is super cheap but zucchini is as well, which is because the South Australia and Victoria supply is happening at the same time.”
“Lebanese cucumbers and continental will be also cheap as we head into summer because crops have been good.”
However, Anthony warns that lemons, kiwis, avocados and tomatoes are going to climb in price. “Lemons are always expensive at Christmas time, especially because they are used in a lot of seafood dishes. We start to rely on imports around this time.”
“In regards to tomatoes,” Anthony says, “there have been low-yielding crops from WA, and there was a virus in SA that affected snacking and gourmet tomatoes.”