The Kenyan avocado season is running late this year, the Kenyan Growers Association officially opened the export season on 24th March, some growers are still waiting for the fruit to mature enough for export.
AAA Growers had planned to export their first sea-freight volumes this week but will now wait until next week, this is partly due to issues at Mombasa Port. “There are a high volumes of avocado containers in port which have not been shipped, this will cause delays for new cargo arriving until the backlog is cleared,” said Paul Huish, Senior Commercial Manager at AAA Growers LTD.
“We are running around six weeks late, but we prefer to wait until the fruit reaches the right dry matter percentage before we ship. We will export to the European market where there seems to be a shortage of fruit, especially in the big sizes. This shortage won’t last for long as soon Peru, South Africa and other African countries will all be sending avocados there. When exporting avocados, you only really make money at the start and end the season, this year the bulk of the Kenyan avocados will reach Europe towards the end of May and I reckon it will be a blood bath, with far too much fruit, this will mean people will export to other markets causing a huge over supply everywhere.”
Last year AAA Growers did their first export to the Al Aweer wholesale market in Dubai and this year they will be exporting directly to retailers in the country. “Last year was a great success and by going directly to the retailers this year we can have programmed exports.”
Avocado exports from Kenya will increase this season as more small growers start exporting, Paul thinks there will be a lot of smaller fruit on the market, so it will be a tough market if you don’t have bigger sizes.
For more information:
Paul Huish
AAA Growers LTD.
paul.huish@aaagrowers.co.ke