"We could have a healthy avocado market till the first months of 2019"

“The European market is becoming better with a lower fruit supply and it’s clearing its stocks. This is the moment when Colombian avocado enters the market. Even though Colombia is still in development, the origin is doing a good job year after year. We expect that Europe will be our the main export destination for the Colombian avocado. In addition, we will develop other potential markets such as the United States, Middle East and Asia. The interest for Colombian avocado is there and many markets are following the development of our country”, starts Rodolfo Humada from the Colombian producing and exporting company Pacific Fruits.

He explains that from the 32 states in Colombia, nowadays in 14 states avocados are produced. The lowest states start their season, as they are located in warmer areas. “In week 34 start the southern part of the coffee zone (Quindio and Risaralda) and as well the Tolima state. From there, each 2-3 weeks another state will join with the season from the warmer to the colder areas. The highest production will be from October will December, when all the main producing states are in their harvesting period.”

According to Rodolfo, the last weeks from the end of May till the end of July have been hard. “There has been an oversupply in some producing countries and this was shipped mainly to Europe, our main export market. The price went down to levels we weren´t expecting. Luckily, after this oversupply we see a recovery of the market and hopefully from October prices will be at good levels again.”

“I believe we could have a healthy market till first months of 2019. As we will be in the market together with Chile as the biggest origins for the winter season. However, Chile doesn´t have volumes from Peru. Besides, Chile is an origin, which is well received in the United States and also in Asia, like China. This will help us reduce the supply in some markets”, continues Rodolfo in his explanation.

Colombia at this moment has around 15.000 hectares, of which a big part are young orchards. “It’s growing really fast, with numbers like 1000 hectare increase per year. We also see national investments from sugar cane growers, banana growers and industrial companies that are investing in the avocado business. Also, some foreign investments are made from Mexico, Chile and Peru. These companies add the Colombian origin to complete their worldwide supply.”

Colombia has been allowed to ship avocados to the United States since last year. This year Argentina opened up and the Colombian government is working on opening the markets Japan, China and South Korea. “We hope these countries will be allowed to import our fruit in 2019. The country is working hard to open the most potential markets, with growing demand.”

According to Rodolfo, Colombia is very serious and taking more care about environmental matters during its development. “For example, water and forest and also the social matters are something we are working on. We must be a country that produces top quality avocados fulfilling international requirements in terms of social and environmental responsibility.”

“The avocado market is growing in offer and demand. Maybe the demand is growing at a lower pace than the supply, but this could change with the development of new markets. For example, the Asian market is growing, Middle East countries and Eastern European countries are growing in consumption. I believe we will depend on the marketing to develop the consumption.

In the fresh avocado market, there are still many opportunities to develop and grow. Besides that, the processed produces such as oil, pulp and guacamole is also a fast growing business, that can help reduce the worldwide offer of avocado. If the demand for fresh and processed continues to develop as it actually is, I don´t foresee any problems for the next 10 years in the international avocado market”, concludes Rodolfo.