As China opens for Kenyan avocados, the South African industry is still working on opening that door, with representatives of the South African fruit industry attending the China Fruit & Vegetable Fair in Beijing later this week. In some quarters a sense is expressed that the South African government is approaching the matter with increased urgency.
South Africa produced record volumes of avocados this past year and has no other major export destination except for the European market which is never as oversupplied as when South Africa and Peru (and Kenya) are in season.
“We only have the European market for our avocados and if Peru puts down large volumes, where else can we take our fruit?” asks an avocado grower. “The domestic market is also under immense pressure that time of the year so we just have to get into the Chinese market - we have no other escape route.”
The avocado season started well, prices back on farm as high as R160 (9.8 euros) per carton, but it hit rock bottom during July and August, down to as low as R22 (1.35 euros) to R50 (3 euros) per carton.
An upshot of the strong year was that Europeans ate more of the fruit when it was more reasonably priced, leading to a 35% growth in the European market according to the World Avocado Organisation (WAO).
That European avocado consumption keeps growing (also driven by WAO campaigns, funded by, amongst others, South Africa and Peru) is a relief to South African growers but only a temporary respite from the urgency to find a home for the volumes about to come on-stream in the coming years.
In this way these Southern Hemisphere producers create the demand from which the avocado producers like Israel, Chile and Spain coming into the market afterwards, benefit.
The Japanese and US markets are expected to also open for South African avocados, but the latter market is already well-supplied by Mexico. For both these markets, feedback on the completed pest risk assessments is awaited.
South African avocados is a valuable source of foreign income, something an economy in recession sorely needs.
“All of our competitors are passing us by, now Kenya too, and we’re being left behind,” laments an avocado grower, wondering what use membership of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) trading bloc is to South Africa if it can’t expedite access to the ‘C’ in the acronym.