ar has seen a different season for Peruvian Hass avocados in Europe. Sergio Torres from Camposol's European Office, says. The company grow and commercialise internationally a range of Peruvian produce. "It's been different as the US market was open for Peruvian avocado for the first time."Ordinarily the Peruvian avocados would arrive in big volumes in Europe at the end of June, whereas this year, the Peruvian growers enthusiastically started the season entering the US, delaying entry to Europe."
During the season in the US, however, the avocados were met with competition from California and huge quantities from Mexico. Both Californian and Mexican avocados are historically better placed than the Peruvian ones, fresher on arrival and more appreciated. "Peruvian avocados were, basically, the third choice, Sergio says."
Sergio explains that the Peruvian growers realised they would be better off in Europe and switched their attentions, only to flood the market there at the worst possible time.
"The Peruvian avocados arrived in Europe in time for the holiday period, when the most popular fruit is not exotics, but more locally grown produce like watermelon, stone fruit and strawberries."
As might be expected this had a dramatic effect on the prices.
"At the beginning of the season, the European market was very good," Sergio says. "The price was around 8-10 Euro, however, when the growers switched from the US, the prices dropped to 5-6 Euro, due to the surplus."
He also says that there were some quality issues this year, due to the over supply.
"During the Summer, when the volumes were high and the demand low, there were large quantities of avocados in storage in Europe. What this led to was 2-3 weeks of parallel markets. There was a lot of old stock to clear, whilst at the same time, fresh avocados were also entering the market, meaning that quality was mixed."
Sergio says it is too early to make any forecasts for next year, though he says that there is likely to be a more balanced supply.
"I expect Peruvian growers to be more moderate in their expectations of the US market. They have some experience of that market now and will know better what volumes to send, so there should be a more steady flow to the European marketplace."
For more information:
Sergio Torres
Camposol Fresh
Tel:+31 174 523 332
Mob:+31 650 616 904
[email protected]
www.camposol.com.pe