Since avocados became fashionable in 2014, sales have increased by 60% in recent years, with 650 million kilos marketed last year in Europe. The rising sales and the high stable prices have motivated the countries of southern Europe to set their sights on avocado cultivation, with the focus on Malaga, which is Europe's avocado growing region par excellence. For their part, Greece, Italy and Portugal have all implemented new projects to grow avocados in an attempt to imitate the successful model of Andalusia.
This was explained by Xavier Equihua in an interview with the Spanish news site El Confidencial. The executive director of the World Avocado Organization (WAO) highlighted that southern European countries are highly interested in the cultivation of this fruit.
Málaga is an avocado production hub, both in Spain and in Europe, and the crop has spread along the Andalusian and Mediterranean coast, to Valencia. More than half of the 50 million kilos produced in Spain in 2018 were exported to the European Union, especially to the country's four main customers: France, the Netherlands, Germany and Italy. The rest of the supply is imported from South Africa, Kenya or Morocco, among other producing regions.
Avocado exports to the United States come almost exclusively from Peru, Chile and Mexico.
As for the European consumption of avocados, the Norwegians are in the lead, with 2.44 kilos of avocados per capita in 2017. They are followed by the Danish (2.31 kilos), Swedes (2.09 kilos), Dutch (2.02 kilos), French (1.86 kilos), Swiss (1.74 kilos), British (1.53 kilos), Finns (1.50 kilos), Irish (1.41 kilos), Belgian (1.24 kilos) and Spaniards (1.19 kilos). Equihua links Spain's low position in the ranking with the "almost non-existent avocado culture" in the country, despite its productive power.
The WAO aims to further promote the consumption of avocados and turn the fruit into a staple food, not only in supermarkets, but also in the catering sector.
Source: elconfidencial.com
