According to Olivier Fakhri from French importer Georges Helfer, the French market, after having endured a bearish consumption trend from November until now on all fruits, should be soon entering a busier season.Georges Helfer is a major avocado importer and Olivier said the demand from French consumers is disappointing just now, "Many importers are worried because they paid high prices for avocados in January and now the market is flat. In January it was the same with grapes, there were still volumes of Italian and Spanish grapes on the market when the Peruvian volumes started to arrive."
Olivier said the supply of Chilean avocados is coming to an end, some importers are waiting for the last few arrivals, the 2 main origins being Spain and Israel with big volumes available until Easter. Some smaller arrivals from Mexico/Morocco/Kenya complete the offer of avocados. From week 16 (ETA) in Europe onwards, the transition between origins will occur with the first Peruvian avocados and a few weeks after that regular arrivals from Kenya and South Africa. The market should remain reasonably well supplied until Easter even if the flexible quality from some origins might lead the market to a bullish trend also due to the increasing demand for this period. As soon as the big batches from Peru are available (week 20/21 to be confirmed), the pressure will go down and prices might follow suit.
The Peruvian supply will be arriving in April with a higher production this year: 140 000 tons against 107 000 tons in 2013. Nevertheless, Europe should not be oversupplied as the US demand will be much higher than last year which will balance the volumes in Europe. Peru is the main source of avocados for Georges Helfer and they are looking at increasing the volume from there. This season they expect to import 140-150 containers from Peru and 120-130 from Kenya.
Georges Helfer supplies mostly the French and Swiss supermarkets with green/ripened/ready to eat and bagged avocados.
For more information:
Olivier Fakhri
Helfer France S.A. Rungis
Tel: +33 1 45 12 36 60
Email: olivier.fakhri@helferfrance.fr