On Friday, the China's Ministry of Finance stated that it would unilaterally lower the tariff of 187 products as of December 1, 2017. The avocado is one of them, as its tariff will go from 25% to 7%, benefiting countries like Mexico. Other fruits were not affected (except for dried or dehydrated blueberries, which, Chile currently doesn't export to China).
"I don't see this measure having an impact, but we will have to carry out a deeper analysis as an industry. My impression is that this lowering of tariffs won't affect us much, because we export in a window that goes from September-October to February-March, when there is little fruit from other places. Peru has practically finished, and Mexico is exporting low volumes. In addition, despite the measure, the prices of the Mexican avocado will remain higher than those from Chile, so I think that this will not lead to an increase in imports of Mexican avocados arrive. If they increase volumes, the offer and prices would fall. Additionally, the Chinese market has such a high growth potential in avocado consumption that it is difficult to affect shipments in the future," said Juan Enrique Lazo, the General Manager of the Hass Avocado Committee of Chile.
According to Lazo, so far in the current season (2017-2018), Chile has doubled its shipments of avocado in relation to the same date of 2016-2017. "We have sent almost twice as many avocados to China as in the previous season. We have shipped around 12 million kilos and, on the same date last season, we had exported 7 million kilos. In addition, we are conducting various promotional campaigns that will help us raise prices," he said.
Source: SimFRUIT