The Hass avocado season is already underway with consistent volumes in the Spanish province of Malaga, and the production is expected to be greater than last season. The demand, however, has yet to take off in a market where many origins converge.
"This season, Spain's avocado volumes could grow by around 20%, as around 4,000 new plots planted in the last three or four years in the provinces of Cadiz, Huelva or Valencia come into production," says José Antonio Alconchel, CEO of Alcoaxarquía, specialized in the production and marketing of tropical fruits and organic citrus. Thus, the Spanish avocado production could amount to around 70,000 tons.
© Alcoaxarquía
The Malaga-based company has been marketing Spanish Hass avocados for about two weeks. This year, there is a good quality production and a predominance of average sizes, as the year has been relatively dry.
"So far, there has been quite an irregular demand. On the one hand, while some European supermarket chains have already started working with us, others prefer to wait until January to start working with Spanish avocados, since there is still a great supply from various other origins, such as Colombia, Mexico (which is increasingly extending its campaign) Chile or Morocco (which has been more strongly present than in other years). Besides, Portugal is also producing more. The supply is growing and consumption seems to be more evenly distributed between the various origins."
On the other hand, according to José Antonio Alconchel, "the new wave of coronavirus cases has also had an impact on consumption patterns over the last two weeks. This has been reflected in the sales achieved after the tightening of restrictions in several countries. We also observed how during the first wave, in 2020, people rushed to buy mostly essential products. However, this time, and in the face of the alarm raised by the media about a possible shortage of raw materials, many have been doing their Christmas purchases a bit earlier, so there's less money left for other kinds of items."
Given all these factors, prices have fallen below those reached in the same period of last year. "Selling prices are down by around 10-12%, so they are more in line with the averages of 4 years ago. In any case, the product still ensures a good profitability, despite the fact that production and handling costs have increased by 38% and will likely continue to rise. We are hoping that this year's greater production will help alleviate the rising costs."
"In the coming days, we hope that consumption will stabilize and that the demand for avocados will increase somewhat. We are already receiving slightly bigger orders for next week. From January onwards, Spain could have a good season," says José Antonio Alconchel.
For more information:
José Antonio Alconchel
Alcoaxarquía
M: +34 607396517
T: +34 951 33 39 34
[email protected]
www.alcoaxarquia.com
