The first South African avocados are expected to arrive on the European market in week 10/11. Volumes are expected to be similar to that of last year.
"Our initial estimate for this season is 84,000 tonnes, we will reassess this in March when we have more accurate figures," said Derek Donkin, CEO of Subtrop. "The weather during the growing season has been varied, December was fairly dry, then mid-December until mid-January we had some good rain which was great for sizing up the fruit. The last couple of weeks have been dry, but now we are having some rain which may slightly delay the harvesting, but growers have avocados ready to be harvested so we should catch up quickly."
South Africa has 20 800 hectares of commercial orchards, in recent years a lot of new planting was carried out, but this has now decreased and new planting is at around 800 hectares per annum. This includes new planting and replacement orchards.
Export markets
Europe and the UK remain the main markets for South African avocados, but the industry is keen to expand exports into Asian markets.
"The European market is still growing significantly and will remain a very important market for South African avocados, but last year we exported to China, India, and Japan, this was just one container to each market. We hope to export more to China this year, but we will grow this market slowly. Peru is the main supplier of avocados to China, but we have a small advantage in shipping times. The same goes for India, the market is growing strongly, but from a low base. The main competition here is Tanzania, which also has no import duty to pay, whereas import tariffs are levied on South African avocados. We hope to supply the market after the Tanzanian season, or if the market grows faster than the Tanzanian supply. We are doing a lot of work to increase awareness and consumption in India."
Domestic market
"The South African market is growing and it is very important to us. Volumes sold at home are equivalent to export volumes. SAAGA is working hard to further increase consumption domestically."
Shipping
Shipping out of South Africa has seen some good improvements this year with investment in port equipment.
"The grape exports so far seem to have been going very well, so we are hopeful this will continue for the avocado exports."
For more information:
Derek Donkin
Subtrop/ SAAGA
Tel: +27 15 307 3676
Email: [email protected]
www.subtrop.co.za
