The first container of Peruvian Hass avocados of the 2016 season arrived in Shanghai last week. Peru’s Economic and Trade Office in Shanghai said the fruit was shipped by Camet Trading and the receiver was Supafresh.
Another five containers are due to arrive before the end of the month, with an estimated 200 containers of avocados scheduled to be shipped in total this season. The peak season, which runs from May to September, will see weekly arrivals of around 15 containers with an average value of US$15m.
Avocado consumption in China rose sharply last year and is expected to register further strong growth in 2016 as awareness of the nutritional and health benefits of the green fruit increases among the country’s affluent middle class.
In 2015, China imported 13,000 tonnes of avocados from Mexico and approximately 3,000 tonnes from Chile. But in the 2015/16 season, which ended in April, imports reached 25,000 tonnes from Chile and Mexico.
In spite of an increase in planted area, output for 2016 is expected to be similar to last year, due primarily to the effected of El Niño.
