Image copyright Getty Images 
 
 If you're a lover of guacamole, chocolate avocado shakes or smashed avocado on toast, get ready to pay more for your fix of the green fruit. 
 
 Avocado prices have risen to a record due to surging global demand and reduced harvests from major producers Mexico, Peru and California. 
 
 A 10-kilogram box of Hass avocados from Mexico's major wholesale producer sells for around 530 pesos (£21.78; $27.89). 
 
 That is more than double last year's price, according to Bloomberg data. 
 
 Analysts expect prices to remain at "elevated levels" after a growers strike in Mexico and drought in California led to a severe supply crunch last year. 
 
 Mexico supplies 82% of avocado shipments into the US, according to data from the Hass Avocado Board, but that is expected to drop. 
 
 Hass Avocado Prices (US retail) $1.27 each in April 2017 $0.98 in April 2016 Getty 
 
 California production is forecast to be down about 44% this year. 
 
 Peru has also downgraded this year's crop forecast following severe flooding in its southern growing regions. 
 
 US shoppers have seen prices rise steeply, but not at the same rate as wholesale prices. 
 
 Food trend 
 
 Avocado consumption has grown dramatically after the fruit's taste and health properties turned it into a major food trend. 
 
 The avocado has the highest protein and oil content of any fruit. It is also believed to help reduce the risk of cancer and heart disease. 
 
 Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Avocado trees are an alternate-bearing crop, which means harvests differ in size each year 
 
 There are two main varieties of avocado available on the market: Hass and Fuerte. The former make up 95% of all avocados eaten in the US. 
 
 The US is the world's largest consumer and importer of avocados, but the "butter fruit" is also rapidly gaining fans in China. 
 
 Avocado exports from Latin America to China are growing by about 250% a year, according to the Financial Times. 
 
 Chinese conglomerate Shenzhen Kondarl is also buying Australia's biggest avocado farm Primary Growth for up to 1bn yuan ($146m) to meet the burgeoning demand. 
 
 The world's biggest avocado producers 1. Mexico 2. Dominican Republic 3. Colombia 4. Peru 5. Indonesia 
 
 In fact, demand for the fruit is so great there were even avocado thefts in New Zealand during last year's shortage. 
 
 Major US restaurant chains were also affected. Subway was forced to stop serving fresh avocado on their sandwiches while Chipotle Mexican Grill said it squeezed their bottomline. 
 
 There are also worries that avocados will get even more expensive if President Trump follows through with his threat to exit NAFTA or levy tariffs on Mexico. ||||| SHARE THIS ARTICLE Share Tweet Post Email 
 
 Photographer: Cesar Rodriguez/Bloomberg Photographer: Cesar Rodriguez/Bloomberg 
 
 That bowl of guacamole on Cinco de Mayo will be more expensive this year, as avocado prices rise to a record on surging demand and a smaller crop in Mexico and California. 
 
 A 10-kilogram (22-pound) box of Hass avocados from the state of Michoacan, Mexico’s biggest producer, cost 530 pesos ($27.89) Thursday, according to the government. The price, which is subject to seasonal swings, is more than double what it was a year earlier and the highest in data going back 19 years. 
 
 The jump in demand in recent years has been dramatic. American per-capita consumption was 6.9 pounds in 2015, versus 3.5 pounds in 2006, according to the U.S. government. People are being drawn to the fruit not just for its taste but also for its healthy oils and fats, a trend borne out in the U.S. by Starbucks Corp.’s announcement last month it’s selling avocado sandwich spread. 
 
 “You have increased consumption in China and other areas of the world, like Europe,” said Roland Fumasi, an analyst at Rabobank in Fresno, California. “They’re pulling a lot more of the Mexican crop, so there’s less available for the U.S.” 
 
 Mexico supplies 82 percent of the avocados eaten north of the border. Its shipments into the U.S. surged to 1.76 billion pounds in 2015 from just 24 million pounds in 2000, according to data from the Hass Avocado Board in Mission Viejo, California. 
 
 Avocado trees are alternate-bearing crops, with large harvests one year and smaller ones the next. A lighter crop is expected this season, Fumasi said. In California, which accounts for the rest of supply in the U.S., production will be down about 44 percent this year, the state’s avocado commission forecasts. 
 
 U.S. restaurant chain Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. said earlier this week the shortage of avocados is putting pressure on costs. Hass avocados retailed in the U.S. for $1.27 each on April 21, up from 98 cents a year earlier, U.S. Department of Agriculture data show. 
 
 Cinco de Mayo 
 
 None of this is good news for those celebrating Cinco de Mayo next week. The date of the Mexican Army’s victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla in 1862 has become a broader celebration of Mexican-American culture. It’s also turned into one of the top occasions to consume guacamole in the U.S., besides the Super Bowl. 
 
 Avocado prices will "remain at relatively elevated levels. It could be all the way through summer,” Fumasi said. Buyers will have to wait until the fall, and hope next season’s Mexican crop is bigger, before there’s enough volume to push prices considerably lower, he said. ||||| If you’re having a stressful day, some good options to cool your jets include screaming into a pillow, avoid reading the statuses of Trump supporters on Facebook and screaming into a pillow some more because you just had to read those statuses. 
 
 However, if you’re looking to take a big bite into an avocado as a way to simmer down, don’t. 
 
 Put that ‘cado down, man. 
 
 According to a recent study from the University of Ohio, your body tends to process foods that have healthy fats, such as a avocados, nuts, coconut oil and salmon, in a way that nixes their positive attributes. 
 
 In the words of the study’s author Jan Kiecolt-Glaser, 
 
 It’s more evidence that stress matters. 
 
 Basically, the study showed if you were stressed out, your blood tests would come back with roughly the same inflammation marker levels whether you ate saturated fats or healthier fats, like sunflower oil. 
 
 Way to go, body! Thanks for being such a jerk. 
 
 Now, before you guzzle down a tub of ice cream into your gullet, screaming, “THERE IS NOTHING I CAN DO! STRESS HAS WON! THE END TIMES ARE NIGH,” realize first there are plenty of healthy eating options for you when you’re stressed. 
 
 Just not healthy fats. So don’t put a straw into a package of guac, K? It will only lead you further down the path of rheumatoid arthritis, heart disease and diabetes. 
 
 In fact, you can avoid chronic inflammation by eating a Mediterranean diet, which features a lot of anti-inflammatory ingredients. 
 
 So, tell your pet goat you’re sorry but he needs to get in yo’ belly STAT. 
 
 If you’re feeling stress-free right now, go on a spread that avocado all over your sandwich like wildfire. It’s still good for you. 
 
 Let 2016 be the year of healthy eating, sans stress! 
 
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– As avocado lovers prepare to ingest a massive amount of guacamole during the upcoming Cinco de Mayo holiday, Bloomberg explains why that guacamole will come at a heftier cost: The price of avocados has set a record, more than doubling since last year. This higher price tag will be reflected both at the grocery store and in US restaurants that are finding creative ways to serve the trendy fruit. We break down why you’ll be forking over a pretty penny for that tasty avocado toast: US consumption of avocados has sky-rocketed. Mexico provides 82% of the avocados consumed in the United States. Since 2000, shipments have increased from 24 million pounds to a whopping 1.76 billion pounds in 2015. This astronomical rise has raised ethical questions around the crop’s environmental and social impact. Worldwide demand is up, too. The avocado trend is going global, with European countries as well as China asking for more of the fruit. Shortages in New Zealand even sparked avocado thefts, reports the BBC, while Mexican exports to China are especially booming, growing at a rate of 250% per year. Avocado growers had a bad year. Avocado crops tend to vary, yielding more growth one year, less growth the next. A smaller crop is expected this season in Mexico as well as California, where a 44% decrease has been predicted. And a growers strike in Mexico last year did not help matters. (Here's why you might not want to eat an avocado when you're stressed.)