The Israeli avocado season has been a success despite the outbreak of war, with good volumes, prices, and the quality being closely managed. Strong demand helped to ensure that fruit was sold through quickly, commented Mark Everett, Business Unit Director – Avocados at Worldwide Fruit.
"It's amazing how the country continues to operate considering the situation. Yes, there were some shipping delays, but this was manageable," said Mark.
© Worldwide Fruit
Spanish season
The Spanish avocado harvest has not been quite so positive due to heavy rain.
"Harvesting of fruit from Spain was significantly disrupted in January and February this season due to ongoing heavy levels of rainfall. Hurricane-force winds also caused fruit to drop from the trees. It's difficult to estimate, but some are saying that circa 7% of the avocado crop was lost due to the impact of these climatic factors this season."
The stalled supply made for a difficult market position because, at times, demand was outstripping supply in the wider market. This also led to an upward movement in prices.
© Worldwide Fruit
Chilean supply
"Fortunately, at Worldwide Fruit, we continued to load good volumes from Chile as we progressed through the early part of this year. Quality has been great in the later part of the season with high dry matters in the fruit, allowing for an excellent flavour and eating experience."
Mark said that the biggest challenge they had was when vessels omitted London Gateway, often at short notice, and continued directly on to Europe. Containers were returned to London Gateway on a feeder vessel, often with a week's delay.
Peruvian season commences
The first arrivals were received from the Highlands of Peru in mid-March.
"The overall appearance of this fruit is excellent and is ripening well. The fruit from the Peruvian Sierra is now becoming a significant part of the supply in the March/April/May window."
© Worldwide Fruit
Rainy start to South African season
Worldwide Fruit received the first arrivals of Hass from South Africa towards the end of March.
"There have been significant levels of rainfall in the avocado production areas this season in South Africa, and this has caused some delays with the harvest, but we have managed to depart the programmed volumes, and the first arrivals have been performing well in ripening. The good news is that many of the dams are now full."
© Worldwide Fruit
War in the Middle East
The War in the Middle East is causing some complications with ships being diverted around the Cape of Good Hope, and this will be a challenge to make sure the sequencing of vessels is not interrupted and that there are the correct numbers of containers in the places that require them.
"From a Worldwide Fruit perspective, we have a structured forecasting and planning process, with the aim to program and deliver what we need, when we need it. Regardless of what happens in the Middle East, we will continue to load fruit from the origin in line with our customers' forecasted demand. The increase in fuel costs and freight rates is now being felt."
For more information:
Mark Everett
Worldwide Fruit
Tel: +44 1775 717019
[email protected]
