Spanish avocado production totalled 61,000 tonnes in 2018/19 a 17 per cent increase on the previous season. However, the Agrarian Association of Young Farmers (Asaja) in Málaga said that turnover fell by 12 per cent to €124m compared with €142m in 2017/18.
Prices for Hass avocados, which made up the bulk of production (51,000 tonnes), ranged between €2.60 and €3.16 per kg last season, while in the recently concluded campaign the range was between €2.10 and €2.70, giving an average price of €2.25 per kg.
Prices for green-skinned avocados averaged €0.80/kg for the Bacon variety and €1.20/kg for Fuerte.
Asaja noted that avocado production in the Iberian Peninsula was expanding away from the traditional zone of Málaga and Granada, which together have around 15,000ha of production.
There are a further 1,400ha in the Canary Islands, 1,000ha in Huelva and 800ha in Cádiz, as well as 600-800ha in the Community of Valencia.
Asaja said these areas would play an increasingly important role in the development of Spain’s avocado industry in the coming years.
Spain supplies just 10 per cent of the avocados consumed in Europe every year, and with the market showing double-digit growth, Asaja Málaga said it represents a huge opportunity for producers.
For this reason it has set up an avocado innovation group together with the La Mayora Institute of Subtropical and Mediterranean Horticulture and Asaja Valencia in order to transfer knowledge on the cultivation of the fruit to producers in other parts of Spain.
