The Kenyan avocado season has been somewhat of a mixed bag, as uncertainties stopped the season from reaching its full potential, says David Mulwa, director for Kenyan avocado exporter Kandia FPS LTD:
"The avocado season started off without clarity, as the transit time from Kenya was still pretty long with the closure of the Red Sea. A few options started emerging with different shipping lines along the way, and whilst this helped, it still wasn't the most ideal, as timings and arrivals weren't consistent. By the latter part of the season, a few more options had opened up, and some consistency improved the arrivals, but they were also riddled with some delay complications, arising from port strikes and vessel inconsistencies. I would say it´s been a mixed position with our greatest challenge being the transit time of our fruit to Europe, especially."
© Kandia Fps Ltd
According to Mulwa, the emergence of the avocado oil industry has caused the supply of fresh avocado exports to drop later in the season. "The avocado production was higher in our view, but now a new industry in avocado oil has emerged and is growing, creating stronger competition for the fresh produce. When the market slumps a bit due to the huge inflows from Peru, most of the farmers channeled their fruit to oil production and as a result the remaining volumes, after the Peruvian wave had ended, were significantly lower."
Mulwa emphasizes that the Kenyan avocado industry is still recovering from the drop in business that the Red Sea issues had caused: "There is increasing demand and the curve would have continued on an upward trend from two years ago, with the general improvement in quality from most shippers. Long transit times in 2024 devastated the gains that had been made in the years before, and we're now rebuilding that confidence again with shorter transit times in 2025. Hopefully, 2026 will present even better options as we expect significantly shorter transit times."
© Kandia Fps Ltd
The shorter transit times are crucial to compete in the markets that Kandia has its focus on, Mulwa explains. "Our main export markets are in European countries. We've also ventured into the Middle East and are slowly growing that as we look into Asia and possibly China too. Our greatest challenge is the long transit time. We have aligned other processes backwards to ensure delivery of the right quality fruit at the right maturity. We are continuously engaging the growers to increase their knowledge on orchard management and the adoption of practices in agronomy and post-harvest handling, that ensure top-quality fruit."
Kandia also trades produce from a location in Tanzania, to supply fruit for longer during the year: "We've set up operations in Tanzania in order to increase our coverage, volumes, and period that we can supply fruit. We've expanded the areas we operate in to take advantage of different ecological zones and have the option to supply for a more prolonged period across the year from both locations."
"East African fruit has come a long way, and we've a lot of growing orchards that will be coming into production in the coming years. With a better understanding of the growing practices, we have better quality fruit year-on-year and can assure buyers looking for consistent supplies of good quality avocado that we are up to the task. We can only hope that the situation in the Red Sea is fully resolved and we can rely on shorter transit times, which will greatly improve arrivals and give confidence to European importers," Mulwa concludes.
For more information:
David Mulwa
Kandia FPS LTD
Tel: +254 20 3500866
Mob: +254 722 857142
[email protected]
