Avocado sizes: pieces per box and grams per piece

A 48 means 48 pieces in a 25-pound box, 213 to 269 grams each (Avocados From Mexico, 2025). A B, or Extra, weighs 211 to 265 grams (NMX-FF-016-SCFI-2016, Mexico’s standard for Hass avocado). A code 18 runs between 203 and 243 grams (Codex, 2013). They are nearly the same fruit under three names, and the avocado sizes on a purchase order can come in any of the three.

Here are all three together, with the math for the 4, 10 and 11.34 kg boxes. If you would like a machine to do it, use the avocado size chart tool. And if you plan to automate the pack pattern, each size is a separate program on a robotic case packer for fruit.

Avocado sizes in NMX-FF-016-SCFI-2016

The Mexican standard defines size by unit weight or by the number of fruit in the container. This is its Table 1:

Two names overlap. “Extra” and “Clase I” are sizes in this table, and the same standard calls two quality grades Clase Extra and Clase I. On a purchase order it pays to write the letter and the grams, so nobody reads quality where you meant size.

How many avocados are in a 25-pound box?

The size number is the approximate count of pieces in a 25-pound box (11.34 kg), and USDA quotes Hass from Mexico by that count in 2-layer cartons (USDA AMS, Los Angeles, November 3, 2026). Avocados From Mexico publishes the ranges in ounces; here they are in grams, with the weight each piece would have if the box closed at exactly 11.34 kg (Agro Robotics calculation).

The ranges differ from one chart to another. California’s certification program takes the 40 up to 11.5 ounces (326 g) and starts the 36 at 10.5 ounces (298 g), so the two overlap there. If you sell to a particular customer, ask which chart your fruit will be checked against.

Size is also price. At the Los Angeles market on November 3, 2026, the 2-layer box of Mexican Hass was quoted at 40 to 45 dollars in 36s, 35 to 37 in 48s and 25 to 27 in 84s (USDA AMS). That is one day’s snapshot of one market, and the gap still shows. A lot that drops a size gets paid at the price of the box below.

How many pieces go in a 4 kg or a 10 kg box?

The Codex sizing is designed for Europe’s 4 kg box, according to NMX-FF-016-SCFI-2016 itself. For 10 kg we found no official chart: it is division. In this table, the pieces are an Agro Robotics calculation with the grams from Avocados From Mexico (2025), and the equivalences are approximate because the ranges do not line up exactly.

To get your bearings with the 10 kg box: in 2018 a Colombian exporter offered sizes 14 to 24 in 4 kg and 26 to 32 in 10 kg. That sheet is from Colombia, and we did not find the 10 kg box in any Mexican standard.

Why size decides the pack pattern in the box

A spec sheet from a California packer (2017) separates two ways of filling the same 25-pound box: place packed, from 32 to 70, and volume filled, from 32 to 84. On that sheet, the 84 is offered only volume filled. The smaller the fruit, the more pieces per box and the less sense it makes to place them one by one.

In the 4 kg box the jump shows too. Going from 12 to 30 pieces on the same footprint changes the number of rows, the spacing between fruit and, if the hand is a robot, the program. With Agro’s robotic case packer for fruit, which pack patterns it runs gets confirmed with your fruit and your box, at every size you run.

How many boxes per minute come out at each size?

Divide the machine’s pieces per minute by the pieces the box holds. At the same rate in pieces, the 32 box fills 2.6 times faster than the 84 box, and the machine turns out 2.6 times more metric tons (Agro Robotics calculation: 84 ÷ 32). The 4 kg box works the same way: the 12-piece box fills 2.5 times faster than the 30-piece one. A speed in pieces per minute, with no size next to it, still does not tell you how many boxes you will close. The comparison between pieces, boxes and metric tons continues in how many avocados per minute a robot packs.

How do I check that the box holds its size?

NMX-FF-016-SCFI-2016 calls for a scale with 0.1 g resolution or a steelyard scale (romana) with 5 g divisions, and the size comes from the average of the weighings. If you know the pieces in the box, count; if you do not, use the net weight. The minimum sample is 0.3% of the lot: in a lot of 1,000 boxes that is 3 boxes (Agro Robotics calculation).

Three rules help you avoid a fight with the customer:

• The box must be uniform, with a 10% tolerance for fruit that falls into the next size up or down (NMX-FF-016-SCFI-2016).
• If you grade by count, the smallest fruit must weigh at least 75% of the largest (Codex, 2013). In a box of 48 whose largest piece weighs 269 g, the smallest should stay at or above 202 g (Agro Robotics calculation).
• Size and grade go marked on the outside of the container, with the packing date (NMX-FF-016-SCFI-2016).

With that you build the quality line for each lot, and the full box moves on to the count of how many fruit boxes go on a pallet.

The mix also changes from one year to the next. USDA FAS reported smaller fruit in the 2024 cycle because of heat and a recovery in 2025, with a lot of 40s and 48s, and warns that a possible El Niño in the second half of 2026 could bring sizes down (report dated March 12, 2026). Ask that any machine trial run with your mix from that week.