The Spanish Hass avocado season, which precedes that of the Lamb Hass, is underway in the Valencian Community after a start marked by some lack of fluidity in the supply. "A higher volume of fruit is expected this season, but some areas have lacked good sizes, so average sales have so far been lower than expected," says Salvador Olaso, Manager of Agro Safor.
"Many growers chose to leave the fruit on the trees for longer to allow it to grow to larger sizes after the recent rains and sell it at a better price; however, sales have still been sluggish at times, to the point that one of the main Spanish cooperatives asked for the harvest to be brought to a halt until the market recovered."
"Maybe the size issue has taken a toll, but a key factor has been Morocco supplying a large volume of fruit into Europe and supermarkets deciding to work with Moroccan avocado."
"In my case, I have sold my avocados at a better market price thanks to having done it through an internet platform that bought the whole production from me. It's becoming increasingly clear that online fruit sales platforms in Spain are offering greater value and better prices than the usual marketers."
"In fact, one of their best decisions, in my opinion, has been their promotion of the Valencian Lamb Hass, which has allowed it to build its own reputation," says Salvador. "It seems that retail chains only buy Lamb Hass until the arrival of Hass avocados later because as soon as they are available, the name Lamb Hass tends to disappear everywhere and you only see one name: Hass."
"I think that in Spain we need a strong lobby to promote Lamb Hass avocados, as we have a fairly big production in the Valencian Community, where a large area is devoted to the variety, and we should make an effort to boost the value of this avocado, instead of using it just to fill the gap in the Hass supply in March-April."
"This isn't just a problem for the Lamb Hass; very good varieties with very high-fat content, large sizes, and a very good flavor, such as the Carmen, from Viveros Brokaw, or the Maluma, also end up being marketed as Hass avocados, thereby losing their added value."
"Also, as we saw three years ago with our Lamb Hass, if the Hass campaigns that follow them are brought forward or those that precede them are delayed, we see price drops in the market and it even becomes hard to deliver high-quality avocados able to compete against imports with low production costs which, in many cases, are not ripened correctly and are black on the inside when they reach the consumer, who will stop buying avocados."
"We need more promotional work and a commitment from marketing companies"
"Last year, in particular, the Lamb Hass salvaged the season for me, because Peru suffered delays and we were able to sell it at a very good price, raising the season's averages. But we shouldn't be talking about salvaging a season; we should be aiming to have a good one."
"The Hass is, of course, a good avocado, but so is the Lamb Hass. It gives you a high production per tree, with generally quite good sizes, and its harvesting period is very interesting. We are now harvesting it at the end of February/beginning of March because that is the period we have before Peru arrives, but as a grower, I see that the best time to harvest the Lamb Hass is actually April, May, and even June when the fruit offers its full potential. We should be able to take advantage of the fact that we have great fruit, and not just use those avocados to fill a gap until there's Hass from Peru."
"In the Valencian Community, many growers have felt excited about the prospect of producing avocados, specifically of the Lamb Hass variety. This product's consumption has yet to reach its peak and we still have the nice potential for growth and chances to make the Spanish season more and more important. However, we need to do more promotional work to allow our product to stand out in the market. On top of that, we also need a commitment from domestic marketers, who are the ones importing the avocados that compete with us, and even growing them there, in some cases."
For more information:
Agro Safor
Tel.: +34 665 570 503
https://agrosafor.net/