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COVID-19 Pandemic Impact
3 Months Ended
Jan. 31, 2022
COVID-19 Pandemic Impact  
COVID-19 Pandemic Impact

13. COVID-19 Pandemic Impact

On January 30, 2020, the World Health Organization (“WHO”) announced a global health emergency because of a new strain of coronavirus originating in Wuhan, China and the risks to the international community as the virus spreads globally beyond its point of origin. In March 2020, the WHO classified the COVID-19 outbreak as a pandemic, based on the rapid increase in exposure globally.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created challenging and unprecedented conditions for our business, and we are committed to taking action in support of a Company-wide response to the crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted the global economy, disrupted global supply chains and created significant volatility and disruption of financial markets. This has resulted in inflationary and cost pressures that have significantly increased, and continue to adversely impact, our production and distribution costs, including costs of raw materials, packaging, labor, and freight. We are also experiencing pressure in our supply chain due to strained transportation capacity and lack of sufficient labor availability. We believe, however, that we are well-positioned for the future as we continue to navigate the crisis and have successfully implemented contingency plans in the U.S. and in Mexico to monitor the evolving needs of our businesses, as well as those related to our Peru partner in consignment avocado sales.

The effects of the pandemic have been more pronounced in the portions of our business servicing foodservice customers and to a lesser extent certain segments of our retail business, including behind-the-glass deli and grab-and-go convenience items.

In early 2021, health agencies approved vaccines for combating the COVID-19 virus. In November 2021, the omicron variant of the SARS-COV-2 virus has started to spread throughout the world, which led to further pandemic restrictions. While many of such restrictions have since been lifted, the pace of the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic is not presently known. We cannot reasonably estimate the duration or extent of the pandemic’s adverse impact on our business, operating results, and long-term liquidity position.