The avocado season is finishing earlier than usual in the Valencian Community, with the last batches of late Lamb Hass avocados and with good commercial results.
"We usually market the Lamb Hass until early May and, at the moment, most of the production has already been harvested," says Vicente Bayona, CEO of the producer and marketer Tropical Bayper and avocado plant sales representative of Viveros Brokaw in the Valencian Community. "The last batches will be sold this month, so there will be no overlap with the avocados from Peru."
According to Vicente Bayona, the Lamb Hass variety has reached the optimum dry matter level for harvesting earlier than usual. "Valencian growers are getting better and better at identifying the right moment for the harvest to achieve correct ripening," he says. "We have better and better tools to analyze the dry matter in the field."
The Lamb Hass variety tends to grow to large sizes; however, according to Bayona, the prices for large and medium-sized fruit have remained at similar levels, as the latter, which is in demand in supermarket chains, has been scarcer. "It has been a satisfactory season in terms of prices, which have stood at averages ranging between 1.75 and 2.10 euros per kilo for all sizes," he says.
In the Valencian Community, there are almost 4,000 hectares planted with avocado, divided in almost equal parts between the Hass and Lamb Hass varieties. "The Lamb Hass is around 25% more productive than the Hass and is gaining ground among Valencian producers, as it is an ideal choice to extend the avocado marketing season, because it arrives later than the Hass and can be harvested between December and May. Valencian avocados are becoming increasingly important in Spain, and more and more importers are taking notice of them, allowing them to find their way onto European shelves as a local product."
Tropical Bayper specializes in the marketing of exotic products, mainly avocado, as well as papaya and lime, with around 4,000 tons of fruit a year delivered both to the domestic market and to supermarkets in the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, and France.
For more information:
Vicente Bayona Pérez
Tropical Bayper
Tel.: +34 616445682
Tel.: +34 673420483
[email protected]
www.bayex.es