The international market's high demand for Hass avocados from Peru has caused a considerable increase in the production area devoted to this crop in Peru in recent years.
This was highlighted by the general manager of the Hass Avocado Producers Association of Peru (ProHass), Arturo Medina Castro, who also stated that Peru plants around 1,500 hectares of Hass avocado each year.
He also said that the country had more than 28 thousand hectares of this fruit - many of which are young plantations - and the planted area would continue to increase, which will help to increase the production and export volume.
Currently, Olmos (Lambayeque) is the area that has the greatest dynamism in the installation of Hass avocado, as there is a lot of investment being made in that area, he said, adding that he believed investment in this area would continue.
Hass avocado exports will increase by more than 15% in the 2018 campaign
Arturo Medina highlighted the shipments of Peruvian Hass avocados in the 2017 campaign, as the country exported a record 230 thousand tons of this fruit, despite the fear there was of a low production due to the coastal El Niño.
He also said it was too early to talk about the 2018 campaign, however ProHass expects the export volume will increase by more than 15% over the 2017 campaign.
This increase would be supported by the new plantations that would enter into production and other plants that enter the maturity stage, when yields increase.
Markets
"In 2017 we doubled shipments to China with respect to 2016 and, as a result of this year's campaign, we expect to double exports to the Asian giant in the next campaign," Medina said.
The country is also trying to open new markets, such as South Korea.
Promotion
The manager of ProHass also said that in the 2017 campaign Peru had sent 25% of the Hass avocado exported to the United States, when this market regularly received 20% of the total volume.
This increase, he said, was due to the 50% decrease in production of Hass avocados in California (United States), a direct competitor for Peru in the same weeks. In addition, Mexico (the main supplier of Hass avocado to the United States) also decreased its production, although not as much as was expected at the start of the campaign.
"It has been very good to partner with South Africa, which along with Peru are the main contributors in the promotion campaigns," he said.
Source: agraria.pe