Banana: October was far from living up to its reputation! Cumulated shipments from Africa and the West Indies remained significantly short. Furthermore, distributors continued to re-launch sales on the domestic market after a dull September. Export releases were more dynamic, in particular to northern European countries. In this context, prices continued to exceed the levels attained in recent seasons. Avocado: Once again, the market switched sharply from over-supply in September 2005 to marked under-supply (-12% in comparison with the average). However, Chilean operators attained their objective of becoming the reference suppliers in October by exporting volumes as large as in 2004. However, the presence of Mexican fruits was much smaller than in other seasons as exporters concentrated on the United States market. Prices recovered sharply and reached a very satisfactory level at the end of the month. Orange: The season in the southern hemisphere, with no marked ups and downs, finished fairly well. Supplies were short, mainly because of the very late start to the Spanish 'Naveline' season. The prices of the last 'Valencia' from the southern hemisphere-forming most of supplies-were increased, returning to an average level. Grapefruit: Supplies have been particularly light, consisting mainly of the last fruits from South Africa and Honduras. Practically no produce arrived from Cuba. Furthermore, presence of the winter origins was very discreet, (serious deficit in Florida, small fruits in Turkey and religious festivals in Israel). In this context, prices were very firm for most origins even though demand for citrus fruits was slowed by warm weather. Only Honduras displayed a mixed performance. Easy peelers: The season started better than in 2004 for Spanish operators, who were practically alone on the market in October. Although sales were far from euphoric, in particular as the weather was still distinctly warmer than average for the season, they were better than tho