This year the search for Lamb Hass avocados in the Valencian Community has skyrocketed, as confirmed by Pascual Cabedo, from Cabesan Agricultura. “As a result of the lack of Hass in Malaga, there have been purchases in the field since the beginning of March and at the moment there is a great demand. In fact, even though almost all the harvest in the Valencian Community has already been sold, people are still looking for fruit.
The region hasn't had serious water issues, but the spring rains affected flowering and curdling, so the amount of fruit produced has not been so high, Pascual stated. “Higher demand and lower supply have come together, and right now prices are around 2.5 euro on average. But we shouldn't rest on our laurels."
Pascual Cabedo.
“We've gone from an extremely bad campaign last year to an excellent one, so we have to be cautious. Last year, Malaga had a great production of Hass avocado and the campaign was unusually long, lasting until April. In addition, Peru entered the market earlier, which had an impact on the commercial window of the Lamb Hass,” Pascual stated. “Supermarkets have moved from Malaga to Peru and Lamb Hass has found itself in a no man's land."
“We must learn that the Lamb Hass is not only there to serve as a window between the national Hass and the Peruvian Hass,” Pascual stressed. “The Lamb Hass is a variety in itself and it has a wide collection window. In our case, we carried out tests with a staggered harvest and we even extended the campaign until November,” stated the director of Cabesan. “An important factor is that the dry matter content and the quality of the fruit improve as the harvest progresses. It's a detail that is trivialized by the industry, which tends to compare the first Lamb Hass of the month of March with the Hass avocado of the same time, which is at its peak in terms of fat and flavor.”
Asoproa strongly promotes the Lamb Hass variety in the Valencian Community, but there is still commercial work to be done in Europe to make it known, he stressed. “We have to consolidate the Lamb Hass and put aside the idea that it is a transitional variety. It would be a big mistake if the sector is unable to understand this: the Lamb Hass avocado is a seasonal, sustainable European avocado with a lower carbon footprint, and despite the fact that the Hass ends in April, the European avocado campaign continues. Markets will prioritize this product if we manage to lengthen the campaign and identify it as the European product it is.”
For more information:
Cabesan Agricultura S.L.
Finca La Salada, Plaza Polígon N4, 316
Bugarra, Valencia (España)
Tel.: (+34) 639 06 73 17
contact@cabesan.eu
https://cabesan.eu