The days of signs in shop windows saying ‘No avocados kept on these premise overnight’ are long gone in Australia and demand no longer outstrips supply, in fact over supply is more the norm.
Between 2012-2021 the demand for avocados was huge and growers planted more, as is normal, big growers became bigger to benefit from economies of scale and in the last few years growers have been turning their attention to the export markets.
The Avolution has been exporting avocados for the last ten years, the main destinations are Singapore, Maylasia and Hong Kong, with smaller volumes going to other markets including the Middle East.
“Australia needs a big export market such a China or India to open for avocados. We have focussed on India as we don’t think China will open for us anytime soon,” said Antony Allen, CEO of The Avolution. “Australia is more connected with India, in fact Punjabi, one of the main languages of India is the fastest-growing language in Australia. We have a natural lineage with the country, our commercial and democratic systems are similar and they are even quite good at cricket.”
Probably one of the main factors is that avocados would fit very easily into Indian cuisine.
“There is already demand in India for good quality avocados, there is a small domestic production but the quality is not great. India does have work to do in growing the consumption of avocados, but if you look at how fast it grew it Australia – in 20 years consumption went from 1.3kg per head to 4.8kg. If you take into consideration that for the first ten years there was no social media, then you can see the potential to grow the Indian demand very quickly.
“Australia is perfectly positioned to supply the Indian market due to our proximity and ability to ship directly via sea, we would be the only country to do this.”
The Avolution has been working hard to prepare the ground for exporting avocados to India and recently won an award in recognition of this.
At this year’s India Australia Business Council meeting and award evening in Delhi The Avolution won the award for Excellence in Innovation.
“We were delighted just to be finalists for this award,” said Antony. “But to win it was fantastic, we were not just competing with our peers in the agriculture sector, but with companies right across the board from India and Australia.”
For more information:
Antony Allen
The Avolution
Email: ceo@theavolution.com.au
www.theavolution.com.au