"Later start of Kenyan avocado exports is a good thing"

Yesterday, it was announced that Kenya would only allow avocados to be exported from February (for Fuerte) and March, for the Hass variety. Guido van Meggelen from JamboFresh, an import company based in Rotterdam, says this is a wise decision. "The avocados' oil content is often not yet up to standard in this period. The fruit is also too small. It is a wise decision that will uphold the name of this Kenyan fruit."

He does not think the government made this decision because of a local shortage, as suggested. "I think it was driven more by export organisations that want to keep their good reputations. Kenyans, themselves, eat different avocado varieties that are not exported. We did not see this official ruling coming. Exporters were expecting to start loading from the end of December/beginning of January. In our opinion, it is a wise decision. We are pleased that the government has intervened, as are our Kenyan suppliers. This is a measure that will be implemented as no export licenses have been issued."

"When the Kenyan avocados are nice and ripe, we can compete well with avocados from other countries such as Peru. We have never been happy with other importers who started importing unripe Hass avocados, for example, too early from Kenya. Another advantage is that we can start with larger sizes sooner than last year. We have customers for the baby avocados, but we would also like to have a supply of the other sizes", concludes Guido.

For more information:

JamboFresh

32-B Scheepmakershaven

3011 VB Rotterdam

Guido van Meggelen

+31 (0)683 995 884

guido@jambofresh.nl