NZ Avocados Market Manager, Bevan Jelley explained that in the past 10 years, the market in Asia has risen from US$148million to US$608million in terms of avocado import values, in which New Zealand is aiming to become involved.
"New Zealand is a small producer, but we are focused on export," he said. "We have relatively high costs of production, we have high labour costs, and a relatively high cost of land. So, we know we must take a different approach to market development. We are not big enough to feed all the consumers in the world. So, we have to seek out and connect with consumers and what they are willing to pay for a premium product."
The national industry's diversified export strategy, in which Asia is now a major player, came about after realising that it must expand on the largest market, Australia. Heading into the 2019 season, it was estimated that Asian nations will take 35 per cent of NZ avocado export volumes.
"Our story in Asia is of premium avocados from New Zealand," Mr Jelley said. "We tell a story of NZ providence, which leverages off the tourism concepts of the country's purity and beauty. We tell a story of avocado's unique nutrients and associated health benefits. We work with chefs in market to develop localised avocado recipes, and we focus on consumer education; how to choose a ripe and ready to eat selection and storage at home."
Mr Jelley added that the peak industry body is able to take a lot of information from social media accounts, which are highly popular across the continent.
"We use this to adapt our strategies moving forward," he said. "With social media, we have so much information at our fingertips, and we are able to understand more about who is eating our avocados, and what they think about them, than we ever have before. It's an exciting time. Applications such as WeChat in China have survey functions, where we can also test what consumers favourite recipes are, and it gives us some education on where we need to provide more information. We can also test our own positioning."