“There are very high prices for green-skinned avocados because South Africa finished early,” said Eitan Zvi of Galilee Export. “Volume will continue to be good in green's until January, but overall volume will be down compared to last year.” Frost in the Upper Galilee region and in some places in the wester Galilee will likely hurt yields for all varieties, including the Hass, which will arrive in Europe in limited volumes in December end will grow from the end of January. Before that, the Ettinger and the Pinkerton, both green-skinned varieties, will satisfy European consumers.
“The market is very split between green-skinned and Hass avocados,” said Zvi. “Russia takes mainly green-skinned at the moment and so does Italy. But the majority of Europe takes only Hass, so we have to do promotions in those countries that take green-skinned avocados.”
Spain is also shipping Bacon avocados, but their roughly 400 tons of fruit is well short of the 1,500 tons off green's that Israeli shippers move at this time of year. As a consequence, prices are largely dictated by how many avocados green skin Israel ships. But, in an effort to reach beyond the usual window during which Israel dominates the market, Zvi said he's trying to get a yearlong deal going.
“We are getting avocados from Chile and Peru in order to supply our ready to eat programs in France,” said Zvi. “But we are looking for all suppliers around the world. The demand for avocados is growing. In the U.K., I saw that consumption has grown by 30 percent from last year, and that's incredible. So as long as we're getting business from supermarkets, we'll continue to import avocados to meet that need.”
For more information:
Eitan ZviGalilee Export
Tel: +972 365 390 14
Mob: +972 54 485 9344
eitan.z@galil-export.com
www.galilee-export.com